The goal is to identify the genes determining genetic variants of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and of evoked responses of the EEG and to explore the relationship of these genes to behavior including psychopathologies such as alcoholism, drug abuse, antisocial personality, anxiety disorders and affective illness. This initiative is being pursued by: 1) family transmission and association studies on families identified by a population-based survey for probands with EEG variants 2) a genetic linkage study to map the genes determining the variants. In the genetic epidemiological study, the low voltage (LV) alpha, EEG variant was confirmed to be transmitted in autosomal dominant fashion. However, the monomorphic alpha resting EEG pattern was found to be largely sporadic in its distribution. Alcoholism and anxiety were increased in individuals with the LV trait. Families with the LV variant have been collected and expanded and are being analyzed for genetic linkage to dispersed and candidate gene DNA and protein markers.
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