Laboratory Performance During Acute Alcohol Intoxication and Hangover

Abstract

Eleven private pilots (seven men and four women) were recruited and trained on the Multiple Task Performance Battery (MTPB), static and dynamic tracking of a localizer/glide slope instrument, and use of the Intoxilyzer. The experiment comprised four test sessions (vodka, bourbon, placebo, and control sessions) held at weekly intervals. Sessions began at about 5:00 p.m. and continued through midnight to about 11:00 a.m. the next day. Subjects were tested in groups of three or four and were not told whether they were drinking alcohol or placebo. The ordering of sessions was approximately counterbalanced. Subjects were given all tests in the evening (before and after a monitored dinner), drank prepared beverages from 8:30 p.m. to midnight, and were tested again. Subjects slept 4 to 5 hr. They were awakened around 7:00 a.m., fed, and asked to perform all tasks again, beginning at 8:00 a.m. (8 hr after they had finished drinking). Results showed clear deleterious effects of alcohol on the MTPB and the tracking tasks immediately following drinking. During the morning (hangover) tests, scores on the MTPB and on the static and dynamic tracking tasks showed small circadian effects (scores were better) without impairment due to the alcohol. There were no congener effects. These results offer no evidence contrary to the "8 hour rule."

Alcohol Hangover Effects on Memory Functioning and Vigilance Performance after an Evening of Binge Drinking

“…Confusingly, some studies reported significant psychomotor performance impairment (Takala, 1958;Kelly et al, 1970;Seppälä et al, 1976;Bonte and Volck, 1978;Myrsten et al, 1980;Laurell and Törnros, 1983;Yesavage and Von Leirer, 1986;Roehrs et al, 1991;Yesavage et al, 1994;Anderson and Dawson, 1999), whereas other studies did not (Carroll et al, 1964;Ideström and Cadenius, 1968;Dowd et al, 1973;Collins and Chiles, 1980;Collins, 1980;Morrow et al, 1990;Törnros and Laurell, 1991;Lemon et al, 1993;Chait and Perry, 1994;Streufert et al, 1995;Taylor et al, 1996;Finnigan et al, 1998). Taking into account that the majority of participants in these studies did report hangover symptoms, the inconclusive results are rather unexpected.…”

“…Results from these studies are difficult to interpret, since normally binge drinking takes place during the evening or night. Finally, in some studies participants received less than 6 h of sleeping time before next-morning tests started (Collins and Chiles, 1980;Collins, 1980). In these studies, the effects of sleep restriction probably interfere with the effects caused by binge drinking itself.…”

The Effects of Atropine Sulfate on Aviator Performance

“…simulator provided a sensitive means by which to study the effects of drug stress on pilots. Flight simulators have been used by a number of investigators to study the effects of ethanol on pilot performance (8,9,10,11,12). Performance decrements have been found at moderate blood alcohol levels (.05 BAL and above).…”

“…Other investigators have found dependent variables involved in a pilot's control of a flight simulator to be sensitive to the following toxic substances: secobarbitol (7); alcohol, (8,9,10,11,12); marijuana, (13); and anti-emetic drugs, (14).…”

“…While Sternberg's memory search model provides no ready ousting for such a finding, the assumptions of that model are based entirely on single task data. In contrast, Hicalliui and Wickens (20) reviewed the applioctions of the Sternberg Task to dual task environments and noted two' investi&*tions, by Spicuzza, Pinous, and O'Donnel (40) and Crawford, Pearson, and Hoffman (11), in which negative slopes in the 3ternberg Task were obtained in dual task conditions. Interestingly, both of these studies involved applications of the Sternberg task to the flight simulator environment with auditory stimulus presentation--precisely the same conditions employed here.…”