Researchers have found that adolescent and adult children of alcoholics who do not drink alcohol nevertheless show deficits in neuropsychological functioning (for reviews, see Babor et al. 1994; Porjesz and Begleiter 1993). Evidence suggests that children of alcoholics have difficulty regulating their own behavior, organizing and remembering information, and learning tasks that involve two- and three-dimensional space. In other studies, abnormal brain electrical activity, measured as a reduced peak in amplitude in one of the electrical components of the ERP (i.e., the P300 wave), has been observed in nondrinking sons of alcoholics who were performing cognitive tasks. Because the electrophysiological abnormalities in the children of alcoholics are similar to those displayed by abstinent alcoholics, researchers have inferred that brain waves may provide an observable marker for potential alcoholism in children of alcoholics even before the initiation of drinking behavior.
