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Dose-dependent suppression by ethanol of transient auditory 40-Hz response
I P Jääskeläinen1, J Hirvonen, M Saher
1Cognitive Brain Research Unit, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 13, Meritullinkatu 1, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. Iiro.Jaaskelainen@Helsinki.FI
Rationale:
Acute alcohol (ethanol) challenge is known to induce various cognitive disturbances, yet the neural basis of the effect is poorly known. The auditory transient evoked gamma-band (40-Hz) oscillatory responses have been suggested to be associated with various perceptual and cognitive functions in humans; however, alcohol effects on auditory 40-Hz responses have not been investigated to date.
Objectives:
The objective of the study was to test the dose-related impact of alcohol on auditory transient evoked 40-Hz responses during a selective-attention task.
Methods:
Ten healthy social drinkers ingested, in four separate sessions, 0.00, 0. 25, 0.50, or 0.75 g/kg of 10% (v/v) alcohol solution. The order of the sessions was randomized and a double-blind procedure was employed. During a selective attention task, 300-Hz standard and 330-Hz deviant tones were presented to the left ear, and 1000-Hz standards and 1100-Hz deviants to the right ear of the subjects (P=0. 425 for each standard, P=0.075 for each deviant). The subjects attended to a designated ear, and were to detect the deviants therein while ignoring tones to the other ear.
Results:
The auditory transient evoked 40-Hz responses elicited by both the attended and unattended standard tones were significantly suppressed by the 0.50 and 0.75 g/kg alcohol doses.
Conclusions:
Alcohol suppresses auditory transient evoked 40-Hz oscillations already with moderate blood alcohol concentrations. Given the putative role of gamma-band oscillations in cognition, this finding could be associated with certain alcohol-induced cognitive deficits.