Archival ReportAlcohol and Neural Dynamics: A Meta-analysis of Acute Alcohol Effects on Event-Related Brain Potentials
Section snippets
Methods and Materials
The databases PubMed, PsycArticles, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (a gray literature database) were searched for articles published before May 2020. The following search terms were used: (“alcohol” OR “ethanol”) AND (“ERP” OR "event-related potential" OR "P3" OR "P300" OR “N2” OR "N200" OR "MMN" OR "mismatch negativity" OR “ERN” OR “error-related negativity” OR “FRN” OR “feedback-related negativity”) AND (“alcohol administration” OR “dose” OR “acute effects” OR “laboratory”).
Results
After 3969 records were scanned (Figure 1), the search process yielded 127 effect sizes drawn from 60 independent randomized trials including a total of 2149 participants. Of these, 105 effect sizes (k = 49 trials) were computed precisely based on information provided within reports or via author contacts and thus were the focus of primary analyses below (see Statistical Analysis). Within this primary sample, alcohol doses employed varied from 0.026% BAC (∼1–2 standard drinks/1 hour) to 0.12%
Discussion
The current review synthesized results of over 4 decades of research, spanning 60 independent randomized controlled trials with a combined sample size of 2149 participants. Results indicated that alcohol’s effects varied significantly across neural systems, with alcohol exerting significant dampening effects on ERP components linked with attention (P3b), automatic auditory processing (MMN), and performance monitoring (ERN/FRN). These effects were moderated by alcohol dose, emerging as small but
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant Nos. R01AA025969 (to CEF) and R01AG026308 (to KDF). The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report.
We thank students and staff of the Alcohol Research Laboratory for their help with this project.
The authors report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.
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