Kr. Krull et al., SIMPLE REACTION-TIME EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS - EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL AND DIAZEPAM, Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry, 18(8), 1994, pp. 1247-1260
1. Acute effects of alcohol and diazepam on reaction time (RT) and eve
nt-related potential (ERP) measures were examined in 108 healthy male
volunteers. 2. The subjects engaged in a simple RT task at two levels
of stimulus intensity during baseline and treatment sessions. 3. Lower
stimulus intensity produced increased RT's, increased ERP peak latenc
ies, and suppression of peak amplitudes. 4. Moderate and high doses of
alcohol, and high doses of diazepam produced increased RT's. Alcohol
suppressed P100 and N100 amplitudes, while diazepam suppressed P100 am
plitudes only. P100 amplitudes were correlated to RT's under baseline
and treatment conditions. 5. These results were taken as evidence for
impaired stimulus detection during alcohol and diazepam intoxication,
with both drugs influencing sensory-perceptual processes and alcohol a
lone influencing the degree of attentiveness.