Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Effects of Alcohol on the Central Nervous System in Humans

  • Chapter
The Biology of Alcoholism

Abstract

Although gross changes in personality and behavior are readily apparent during acute alcoholic intoxication, these changes have only become the subject of systematic study within the past 100 years. Miles (1932) has summarized the different stages of clinical intoxication in the form of a scale relating the subjective states and typical behavioral changes seen with increasing blood alcohol levels. The earliest effects, tingling sensations in the mucous membrane of the mouth and throat, may appear with a blood alcohol level as low as 10 mg%. At the upper extreme (300 mg%) the subject passes into a stuporous condition, and at still higher levels (400 mg%) falls into a state of deep anesthesia which may end in death. This description of successive stages in clinical intoxication represents the typical or modal response commonly seen with a given blood alcohol level. The association between blood alcohol concentration and stages of clinical intoxication is not a clear one-to-one relationship. As with other psychotropic drugs, there are large individual differences in response to a given dosage as well as considerable variability in the subject’s response at different times or in different settings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Arentsen, K. and Sindrup, E., 1963. Electroencephalographic investigation of alcoholics, Acta Psychiat. Scand. 39: 371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Begleiter, H., Platz, A., and Porjesz, B. The effects of alcohol on the somatosensory recovery function in man (in preparation).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, A. E., 1960. Diagnosis of intermediate stage of alcoholic brain disease, J. Atner. Med. Assoc. 172: 1143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, A. E., 1967. Treatment of brain damage in alcoholism, Curr. Psychiatric Therapies 7: 142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, A. E., Doi, L. T., and Mowery, S. L., 1956. The value of electroencephalography in alcoholism, J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 124: 27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, A. E., Mowery, S. L., and Fort, J. T., 1960. Brain damage from chronic alcoholism: The diagnosis of intermediate stage of alcoholic brain disease, Amer. J. Psychiat. 116: 705.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergamasco, B. and Gandiglio, G., 1965. Alterazioni delle risposte corticali a stimoli somatoestesici in soggetti alcoolisti cronici privi di segni clinici di neuropatía periférica, Riv. Pat. Nerv. Ment. 86: 170.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergamini, L., Gandiglio, G., Bergamasco, B., Bram, S., and Mombelli, A. M., 1965. Alterazioni della conduzione nervosa e motoria in alcoolisti cronici privi di segni clinici di neuropatía perferica, Riv. Pat. Nerv. Ment. 86: 31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, J. A., 1962. Effects of alcohol on some psychological processes, Quart. J. Studies Ale. 23: 274.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, H. T., 1950. The repetitive discharges of cortico-thalamic reverberation circuit, J. Neurophysiol. 13: 235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, H. T., 1951. Changes in excitability of cerebral cortex following single electric shock applied to cortical surfaces, J. Neurophysiol. 14: 95.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, P. A., Gibbs, F. A., Davis, H., Jetter, W. W., and Trowbridge, L. S., 1941. The effects of alcohol upon the electroencephalogram (brain waves), Quart. J. Stud. Ale. 1: 626.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delamonica, E., Marshall, C., and Kurland, A. A., 1966. The alpha blocking response in chronic alcoholics, Dis. Nerv. Syst. 27: 451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delay, J., Verdaux, A., and Chanoit, P., 1957. L’éléctroencephalogramme des alcoholiques chroniques. Essai statistique, Ann. méd.-psychol. 115: 427.

    Google Scholar 

  • Docter, R. F. and Bernal, M. E., 1964. Immediate and prolonged psychophysiological effects of sustained alcohol intake in alcoholics, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. 25: 438.

    Google Scholar 

  • Docter, R. F., Naitoh, P., and Smith, J. C., 1966. Electroencephalography changes and vigilance behavior during experimentally induced intoxication with alcoholic subjects, Psychosom. Med. 28: 605.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doenicke, A., Kugler, J., and Laub, M., 1967. Evaluation of recovery and “street fitness” by E.E.G. and psychodiagnostic tests after anaesthesia, Cañad. Anaesth. Soc. J. 14: 567.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyken, M., Grant, P., and White, P., 1961. Evaluation of electroencephalographic changes associated with chronic alcoholism, Dis. Nerv. Syst. 22: 284.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, G., Frankenhaeuser, M., Goldberg, L., Bjerver, K., Jarpe, G., and Myrsten, A. L., 1963. Effects of alcohol intake on subjective and objective variables over a five hour period, Psychopharmacologia 4: 28.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, G., Frankenhaeuser, M., Goldberg, L., Hagdahl, R., and Myrsten, A. L., 1964. Subjective and objective effects of alcohol as functions of dosage and time, Psycho-pharmacologia 6: 399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engel, G. L. and Romano, J., 1959. Delirium, a syndrome of cerebral insufficiency, J. Chron. Dis. 9: 260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel, G. L. and Rosenbaum, M., 1944. Studies of the electroencephalogram in acute alcoholic intoxication, Proc. Cent. Soc. Clin. Res. 17: 62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel, G. L. and Rosenbaum, M., 1945. Delirium III. Electroencephalographic changes associated with acute alcoholic intoxication, Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. 53: 44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engel, G. L., Webb, J. P., and Ferris, E. B., 1945. Quantitative electroencephalographic studies of anoxia in humans; comparison with acute alcoholic intoxication and hypoglycemia, J. Clin. Investigations 24: 691.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evarts, E. V., Fleming, T. C., Etienne, M., and Posternak, J. M., 1961. Action de quelques

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphree, H. B., Schultz, R. E., and Jusko, A. G., 1970. Effects of high congener intake by human subjects on the EEG, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. Suppl. 5, 50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naitoh, P. and Docter, R. F., 1968. Electroencephalograph and behavioral correlates of experimentally induced intoxication with alcoholic subjects, 28th Intern. Congr. Alcohol and Alcoholism, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nathan, P., 1970. Symposium: Learning principles, their clinical application, in Highlights, X V Ann. Conf.,VA. Cooperative Studies in Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, H. W., 1959. The effect of alcohol on the electroencephalogram, Stanford Med. Bull. 17: 55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obrist, D. and Busse, E. W., 1965. The electroencephalogram in old age, in Applications of Electroencephalography in Psychiatry ( W. P. Wilson, ed.) p. 185, Duke Univ. Press, Durham, N.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palestini, M., Pisano, M., Rosadini, G., and Rossi, G. F., 1965. Excitability cycles of the visual cortex during sleep and wakefulness, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 19: 276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Predescu, V., Roman, I., Christian, C., Viani, I., and Terzi, A., 1967. Electro clinical correlations in chronic alcoholism with physical disturbances, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 22: 576.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salamy, A., Rundell, O. H., and Williams, H. L., 1969. The effects of alcohol on the cortical evoked response. Paper presented at the Ann. Meeting Southwestern Psycholog. Assoc., Austin, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, M. and Shagass, C., 1964. Recovery functions of human somatosensory and visual evoked potentials, Ann. New York Acad. Sciences 112: 510.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, M., Shagass, C., Bittle, R., and Flapan, M., 1962. Dose related effect? of pentobarbital on somatosensory evoked responses and recovery cycles, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 14: 898.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shagass, C., 1968. Evoked responses in psychiatry, in Computers and Electronic Devices in Psychiatry ( N. Kline and E. Laska, eds.) Grune & Stratton, Inc., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shagass, C. and Jones, A. L., 1957. A neurophysiological study of psychiatric patients with alcoholism, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. 18: 171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shagass, C. and Schwartz, M., 1962. Cerebral cortical reactivity in psychotic depressions, A.M.A. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 6: 235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, B., O’Leary, J. L., and Ryan, J. J., 1946. Cerebral dysrhythmia and psychopathic personalities, Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. 56: 677.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spolker, B. and Calloway, E., 1969. Effects of drugs on “augmenting/reducing” in averaged visual evoked responses in man, Psychopharmacologia 15: 116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stern, J. A., 1965. Relationships between the EEG and other physiological measures in man, in Applications of Electroencephalography in Psychiatry ( W. P. Wilson, ed.) pp. 206–225, Duke Univ. Press, Durham, N.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stohr, P. E. and Goldring, S., 1969. Origins of somatosensory evoked scalp responses in man, J. Neurosurg. 431 (2): 117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, G. N., 1963. The electroencephalogram in acute pathological alcoholic intoxication, Bull. Los Angeles Neurological Soc. 28: 217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulett, G. A., Heusler, A. F., and Wood, T. J., 1965. The effect of psychotropic drugs on the EEG of the chronic psychotic patient, in Applications of Electroencephalography in Psychiatry ( W. P. Wilson, ed.) pp. 241–257, Duke Univ. Press, Durham, N.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varga, B. and Nagy, T., 1960. Analysis of a rhythm in the electroencephalogram of alcoholics, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 12: 933.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, H. G. and Ritter, W., 1970. The sources of auditory evoked responses recorded from the human scalp, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 28: 360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalant, H., 1962. Some recent physiological and biochemical investigations on alcohol and alcoholism, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. 23: 52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennard, M. A., Bueding, E., and Wortis, S. B., 1945. Some biochemical and electro- encephalographic changes in delirium tremens, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. 6: 4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kessler, L. B., 1949. Alcoholism: a psychological and electroencephalographic study, Amer. Psychol 4: 275.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kissin, B. and Platz, A., 1968. The use of drugs in the long term rehabilitation of alcoholics, in Psyehopharmaeology: A Review of Progress 1957–1967 ( D. H. Efron, ed.) pp. 835–851, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kissin, B., Schenker, V., and Schenker, A. C., 1959a. Adrenal cortical function and liver disease in alcoholics, Amer. J. Med. Sci. 238: 344.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kissin, B., Schenker, V., and Schenker, A., 1959b. The acute effects of ethyl alcohol and chloropromazine on certain physiological functions in alcoholics, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. 20: 480.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kissin, B., Schenker, V., and Schenker, A. C., 1960. The acute effect of ethanol ingestion on plasman and urinary 17-hydroxycorticoids in alcoholic subjects, Amer. J. Med. Sci. 239: 690.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knott, J. R., 1965. Electroencephalograms in psychopathic personality and in murderers, in Applications of Electroencephalography in Psychiatry ( W. P. Wilson, ed.) pp. 19–29, Duke Univ. Press, Durham, N.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korman, M., Knopf, I. J., and Austin, R. B., 1960. Effects of alcohol on serial learning under stress conditions, Psychol. Rep. 7: 217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kotani, K., 1965. EEG studies on endogenous psychoses and alcohol intoxication, Bull. Osaka Med. Sch., Suppl. 12: 11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lafon, R., Pages, P., Passouant, P., Labauge, R., Minvielle, J., and Cadilhac, J., 1956. Les donnees de la pneumoencephalographie et de l Electroenc6phalographie au cours de l’ alcoolisme chronique, Rev. Neurologique 94: 611.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, E. G., Dustman, R., and Beck, E. C., 1970. The effects of alcohol on visual and somatosensory evoked responses, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 28: 202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, S. C. and McAvoy, M., 1952. Electroencephalographic studies in alcoholism, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. 13: 9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lloyd-Smith, D. C. and Gloor, P., 1961. Abnormal photic sensitivity in alcohol withdrawal syndrome, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 13: 496.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lolli, G., Nencini, R., and Misiti, R., 1964. Effects of two alcoholic beverages on the electroencephalographic and electromyographic tracings of healthy men, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. 25: 451.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marinacci, A. A., 1955. The electroencephalogram in forensic alcoholism, Bull. Los Angeles Neurol. Soc. 20: 177.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marinacci, A. A., 1963. A special type of temporal lobe (psychomotor) seizures following ingestion of alcohol, Bull. Los Angeles Neurol. Soc. 28: 241.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mello, N. K. and Mendelson, J. H., 1968. Alterations in states of consciousness associated with chronic ingestion of alcohol, in Neurobiological Aspects of Psychopathology: Proc. 58th Ann. Meeting Amer. Psychopathological Assoc. (J. Zubin and C. Shagass) pp. 183–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendelson, J. (ed.), 1964. Experimentally induced chronic intoxication and withdrawal in alcoholics, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. Suppl. No. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miles, W. R., 1932. Psychological effects of alcohol on man, in Alcohol and Mant Macmillan, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphree, H. B., Greenberg, L. A., and Carroll, R. B., 1967. Neuropharmacological effects of substances other than ethanol in alcoholic beverages, Fed. Proc. 26: 1468.

    Google Scholar 

  • Murphree, H. B., Schultz, R. E., and Jusko, A. G., 1970. Effects of high congener intake by human subjects on the EEG, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. Suppl. 5, 50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Naitoh, P. and Docter, R. F., 1968. Electroencephalographic and behavioral correlates of experimentally induced intoxication with alcoholic subjects, 28th Intern. Congr. Alcohol and Alcoholism, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nathan, P., 1970. Symposium: Learning principles, their clinical application, in Highlights, X V Ann. Conf..VA. Cooperative Studies in Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newman, H. W., 1959. The effect of alcohol on the electroencephalogram, Stanford Med. Bull. 17: 55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Obrist, D. and Busse, E. W., 1965. The electroencephalogram in old age, in Applications of Electroencephalography in Psychiatry ( W. P. Wilson, ed.) p. 185, Duke Univ. Press, Durham, N.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palestini, M., Pisano, M., Rosadini, G., and Rossi, G. F., 1965. Excitability cycles of the visual cortex during sleep and wakefulness, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 19: 276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Predescu, V., Roman, I., Christian, C., Viani, I., and Terzi, A., 1967. Electro clinical correlations in chronic alcoholism with physical disturbances, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol 22: 576.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salamy, A., Rundell, O. H., and Williams, H. L., 1969. The effects of alcohol on the cortical evoked response. Paper presented at the Ann. Meeting Southwestern Psycholog. Assoc., Austin, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, M. and Shagass, C., 1964. Recovery functions of human somatosensory and visual evoked potentials, Ann. New York Acad. Sciences 112: 510.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, M., Shagass, C., Bittle, R., and Flapan, M., 1962. Dose related effects of pentobarbital on somatosensory evoked responses and recovery cycles, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 14: 898.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shagass, C., 1968. Evoked responses in psychiatry, in Computers and Electronic Devices in Psychiatry ( N. Kline and E. Laska, eds.) Grune & Stratton, Inc., New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shagass, C. and Jones, A. L., 1957. A neurophysiological study of psychiatric patients with alcoholism, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. 18: 171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shagass, C. and Schwartz, M., 1962. Cerebral cortical reactivity in psychotic depressions, A.M.A. Arch. Gen. Psychiat. 6: 235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, B., O Leary, J. L., and Ryan, J. J., 1946. Cerebral dysrhythmia and psychopathic personalities, Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. 56: 677.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spolker, B. and Calloway, E., 1969. Effects of drugs on “augmenting/reducing” in averaged visual evoked responses in man, Psychopharmacologia 15: 116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stern, J. A., 1965. Relationships between the EEG and other physiological measures in man, in Applications of Electroencephalography in Psychiatry ( W. P. Wilson, ed.) pp. 206–225, Duke Univ. Press, Durham, N.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stohr, P. E. and Goldring, S., 1969. Origins of somatosensory evoked scalp responses in man, J. Neurosurg. 431 (2): 117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, G. N., 1963. The electroencephalogram in acute pathological alcoholic intoxication, Bull. Los Angeles Neurological Soc. 28: 217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ulett, G. A., Heusler, A. F., and Wood, T. J., 1965. The effect of psychotropic drugs on the EEG of the chronic psychotic patient, in Applications of Electroencephalography in Psychiatry ( W. P. Wilson, ed.) pp. 241–257, Duke Univ. Press, Durham, N.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Varga, B. and Nagy, T., 1960. Analysis of a rhythm in the electroencephalogram of alcoholics, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 12: 933.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughan, H. G. and Ritter, W., 1970. The sources of auditory evoked responses recorded from the human scalp, Electroenceph. Clin. Neurophysiol. 28: 360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Victor, M., 1968. The pathophysiology of alcoholic epilepsy, The Addictive States: Assoc. Res. Nerv. Merit. Dis. 46: 431.

    Google Scholar 

  • Victor, M. and Adams, R. D., 1953. The effect of alcohol on the nervous system, Res. Publ.: Assoc. Res. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 32: 526.

    Google Scholar 

  • Victor, M. and Brausch, J., 1967. The role of abstinence in the genesis of alcoholic epilepsy, Epilepsia 8: 1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, A. D., Victor, M., Mendelson, J. H., and La Dou, J., 1964. Experimentally induced chronic intoxication and withdrawal in alcoholics, Quart. J. Stud. Ale. Suppl. No. 2, 96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wikler, A., Pescor, F. T., Fraser, H. F., and Isbell, H., 1956. Electroencephalography changes associated with chronic alcoholic intoxication and the alcohol abstinence syndrome, Amer. J. Psychiat. 113: 106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. P. (ed.) 1965. Applications of Electroencephalography in Psychiatry, Duke Univ. Press, Durham, N.C. mum

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, W. P. and Short, M. J., 1965. The neuroses and EEG, in Applications of Electroencephalography in Psychiatry ( W. P. Wilson, ed.) pp. 140–145, Duke Univ. Press, Durham, N.C.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA

    Henri Begleiter & Arthur Platz

Authors
  1. Henri Begleiter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Arthur Platz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA

    Benjamin Kissin  & Henri Begleiter  & 

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1972 Plenum Press, New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Begleiter, H., Platz, A. (1972). The Effects of Alcohol on the Central Nervous System in Humans. In: Kissin, B., Begleiter, H. (eds) The Biology of Alcoholism. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0895-9_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0895-9_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-0897-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-0895-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation