Memory functioning in social drinkers: a study of event-related potentials.

Verbal memory functioning was assessed in light and heavy social drinkers by recording event-related potentials in subjects instructed to memorize lists of words using either repetition or elaborative learning strategies. Although overall performance did not differ significantly between light and heavy drinkers, heavy drinkers showed reduced within-list organization compared with light drinkers. There were statistically significant differences in the event-related potential indices of memory functioning elicited during complex elaborative processing which were consistent with decreased within-list organization in heavy drinkers.