Alcoholism and Human Electrophysiology

Electroencephalography (EEG), the recording of electrical signals from the brain, provides a noninvasive measure of brain function as it is happening. Research using EEG, as well as event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related oscillations (EROs), which measure brain activity in response to a specific stimulus, have shown that the brain activity of alcoholics and nonalcoholics differs in some characteristic ways. These differences are consistent with an imbalance between excitation and inhibition processes in the brains of alcoholics.