We recorded P300 amplitude from a single electrode during the rotated heads task (Begleiter et al., 1984) in a manner consistent with many published reports that support P300 amplitude as an endophenotype for alcoholism risk (Begleiter et al., 1984; Carlson, et al., 2004; Carlson, Katsanis, Iacono, & Mertz, 1999). This approach may fail to capture subtle ways in which AAU alters the adolescent brain. Important insights into how AAU alters adolescent brain development might be gained by examining the robustness of P300 amplitude elicited by other tasks, P300 amplitude measured from other parts of the scalp, or psychological or neurobiological processes other than P300 amplitude.
