EVENT-RELATED POTENTIAL EVIDENCE OF DYSFUNCTION IN AUTOMATIC PROCESSING IN ABSTINENT ALCOHOLICS

The preattentive automatic processing of 63 alcoholics and 27 controls was evaluated with an auditory inattentive event-related oddball para digm. We examined the mismatch negativity and the N2-P3 complex. Resul ts showed significantly greater amplitude for N2, P3 and the N2-P3 com plex for controls but no individual lead (Fz, Cz, Pz) differences by g roup. A group-by-lead interaction was found for N2 and for the N2-P3 c omplex. There were no significant latency differences between groups; however, a significant age-by-group interaction effect on latency was greatest at the Cz electrode. Results reflect a possible aberration of automatic processing in alcoholics because of a defect in the mnemoni c template necessary to match with an infrequent deviant stimuli. We a lso found suggestive evidence of a relative weakness of frontal cortic al organization in alcoholics. Future studies are suggested that would help clarify these differences in alcoholics.