The prominent effects of low doses of alcohol include increases in slow alpha activity or lowering of alpha peak frequency, while moderate doses show increases in slow alpha and theta bands (Ehlers et al., 2004). The effects of alcohol on beta band are more equivocal. Decreases in beta peak frequency (Ehlers et al., 1989) and increases in beta power have been reported (Ehlers and Schuckit, 1990; Stenberg et al., 1994); increased beta is also associated with moderate drinking (Ehlers and Schuckit, 1990). While changes in these frequency bands were marked at both posterior and frontal scalp loci, the alpha increase was very prominent in anterior regions (Ehlers et al., 1989). It has been proposed that acute ethanol administration disrupts the nonlinear structure of EEG oscillations, thus increasing randomness (Ehlers et al., 1998b). The effects of alcohol on the EEG of subjects at risk for developing alcoholism as determined by spectral analysis methods are well known (Table 23.1). FHP individuals have shown greater increases than FHN in alpha (Pollock et al., 1983; Cohen et al., 1993a) and greater decreases of fast
