ERPs were the earliest tools used to study the effects of alcohol on the brain and more recently this has been supplemented by the ERO approach (see next subsection). The early studies were also interested in understanding the modulatory influence of family history and risk on ERPs (Porjesz and Begleiter, 1983). Primarily using auditory oddball tasks and male participants, changes in P3b characteristics after administration of alcohol have been observed in several studies (Table 23.2). Alcohol administration has the general effect of slowing latencies and reducing amplitudes of the P3b peak with both auditory and visual stimuli; a number of studies indicate that HR/FHP subjects manifest less P3b reduction and have a faster recovery of ERP features to baseline levels (Elmasian et al., 1982; Schuckit et al., 1988; Porjesz and Begleiter, 1990). Three-stimulus oddball tasks also generate more anterior P3a components to unattended rare non-target stimuli, which index orienting to novelty (Courchesne et al., 1975; Squires et al., 1975; Knight and Scabini, 1998). Decremental effects of alcohol on P3a amplitudes have also been significant (Campbell and Lowick, 1987; Ehlers et al., 1998a; Jaaskelainen et al., 1999; Marinkovic et al., 2001), suggesting an effect of alcohol on attention processes.
