Event-Related Potential Evaluation of the Cognitive Performance of U.S. Navy Alcoholics.

摘要

The results of the first of four sessions of a year-long longitudinal study of alcoholics are reported. The ERPs of two groups (11 alcoholics and 11 nonalcoholics) of subjects were recorded in order to evaluate their utility as objective indicators of cognitive rehabilitation. An additional analysis was done in order to evaluate their usefulness as indicators of alcoholism. The first session data supports the results of similar studies and therefore the data appears to be reliable and valid. A significant P50 amplitude difference between groups suggests that the alcoholics may have altered sensory gating abilities. The results of a stepwise discriminant analysis of the component parameter values indicated that 100 percent of the training set (all subjects in both groups) were correctly classified. The equation derived from the training set classification coefficients correctly classified six of six alcoholics in a different sample. The strong discrimination between groups suggests that certain ERP component values (P50, N1-P2 complex, and P300) may aid in the identification of alcoholics.