Elsevier

Biological Psychiatry

Volume 89, Issue 10, 15 May 2021, Pages 990-1000
Biological Psychiatry

Archival Report
Alcohol and Neural Dynamics: A Meta-analysis of Acute Alcohol Effects on Event-Related Brain Potentials

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.11.024Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

An understanding of alcohol’s acute neural effects could augment our knowledge of mechanisms underlying alcohol-related cognitive/motor impairment and inform interventions for addiction. Focusing on studies employing event-related brain potential methods, which offer a direct measurement of neural activity in functionally well-characterized brain networks, we present the first meta-analysis to explore acute effects of alcohol on the human brain.

Methods

Databases were searched for randomized laboratory alcohol-administration trials assessing brain activity using event-related potentials. Hedges’ g coefficients were pooled using 3-level random-effects meta-regression.

Results

Sixty independent randomized controlled trials met inclusion (total N = 2149). Alcohol’s effects varied significantly across neural systems, with alcohol leading to reductions in event-related potential components linked with attention (P3b), g = −0.40, 95% CI (−0.50, −0.29), automatic auditory processing (mismatch negativity), g = −0.44, 95% CI (−0.66, −0.22), and performance monitoring (error-related negativity), g = −0.56, 95% CI (−0.79, −0.33). These effects were moderated by alcohol dose, emerging as significant at doses as low as 0.026% blood alcohol concentration and increasing to moderate/large at 0.12%. In contrast, irrespective of dose, relatively small or nonsignificant alcohol effects emerged in other processing domains, including those linked to executive control (N2b responses) and stimulus classification (N2c responses).

Conclusions

Contrary to traditional conceptualizations of alcohol as a “dirty drug” with broad central nervous system depressant effects, results instead support accounts positing targeted alcohol effects in specific processing domains. By identifying alcohol effects on brain systems involved in performance monitoring and attention, results move toward the identification of mechanisms underlying alcohol-related impairment as well as factors reinforcing addiction.

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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