Event-related potentials elicited by a visual continuous performance task in children of alcoholics

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from a group of young children of alcoholics (HR; n = 17, 7 females) with a high-density family-history of alcoholism and from a control group (CN; n = 19, 10 females), ages 7-15 years old, during a visual continuous performance task. The P3 peak amplitude and the mean amplitude at five latency windows (300-800 ms) were measured at frontal (F3-Fz-F4), central (C3-Cz-C4) and parietal (P3-Pz-P4) electrodes. Data were analyzed using a mixed-model risk-group by stimulus-type (matching vs. nonmatching) by Electrode ANCOVA, with age as a covariate, for each of the scalp regions. The risk-group by stimulus-type interactions were significant at the parietal region for the P3 peak amplitude and for the 300-400 ms mean amplitude, although there were no risk-group main differences. The HR group manifested smaller differences between the amplitude of the matching and nonmatching condition than the CN group. These results suggest a deficient electrophysiological differentiation between relevant and irrelevant information and are discussed in relation to previous reports and to the characteristics of the sample.