Alcohol-related impairment in the Lane Change Task (original) (raw)

Effects of Alcohol on Performance on a Distraction Task During Simulated Driving

Alcoholism-clinical and Experimental Research, 2009

Background: Prior studies report that accidents involving intoxicated drivers are more likely to occur during performance of secondary tasks. We studied this phenomenon, using a dual-task paradigm, involving performance of a visual oddball (VO) task while driving in an alcohol challenge paradigm. Previous functional MRI (fMRI) studies of the VO task have shown activation in the anterior cingulate, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. Thus, we predicted dose-dependent decreases in activation of these areas during VO performance.Methods: Forty healthy social drinkers were administered 3 different doses of alcohol, individually tailored to their gender and weight. Participants performed a VO task while operating a virtual reality driving simulator in a 3T fMRI scanner.Results: Analysis showed a dose-dependent linear decrease in Blood Oxygen Level Dependent activation during task performance, primarily in hippocampus, anterior cingulate, and dorsolateral prefrontal areas, with the least activation occurring during the high dose. Behavioral analysis showed a dose-dependent linear increase in reaction time, with no effects associated with either correct hits or false alarms. In all dose conditions, driving speed decreased significantly after a VO stimulus. However, at the high dose this decrease was significantly less. Passenger-side line crossings significantly increased at the high dose.Conclusions: These results suggest that driving impairment during secondary task performance may be associated with alcohol-related effects on the above brain regions, which are involved with attentional processing/decision-making. Drivers with high blood alcohol concentrations may be less able to orient or detect novel or sudden stimuli during driving.

Effect of alcohol and divided attention task on simulated driving performance of young drivers

2013

The aim of this study is to evaluate driving impairment linked to divided attention task and alcohol and determinate if it is higher for novice drivers compared to more experienced drivers. Sixteen novice drivers and sixteen experienced drivers participated in three experimental sessions corresponding to blood alcohol concentration [BAC] of 0.0 g/L, 0.2 g/L and 0.5 g/L. They performed a divided attention task [car-following task combined with a number parity identification task], and their results were compared to baselines obtained in reference single-tasks. Driving performance was evaluated by standard deviation of lateral position and minimum inter-vehicular distance. Response time and accuracy on additional task were also measured. Overall, ANOVA showed a driving impairment from BAC of 0.5 g/L with an increase of lateral position variability and a decrease of correct response percentage. In addition, novice drivers seem to be particularly disrupted by negative impact of alcohol ...

Divided attention in young drivers under the influence of alcohol

Journal of safety research, 2014

The present research evaluates driving impairment linked to divided attention task and alcohol and determines whether it is higher for novice drivers than for experienced drivers. Novice and experienced drivers participated in three experimental sessions in which blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) were 0.0 g/L, 0.2 g/L, and 0.5 g/L. They performed a divided attention task with a main task of car-following task and an additional task of number parity identification. Driving performance, response time and accuracy on the additional task were measured. ANOVA showed a driving impairment and a decrease in additional task performance from a BAC of 0.5 g/L, particularly for novice drivers. Indeed, the latter adopt more risky behavior such as tailgating. In the divided attention task, driving impairment was found for all drivers and impairment on information processing accuracy was highlighted, notably in peripheral vision. The divided attention task used here provides a relevant method fo...

Analisys of the influence of alcohol on the motor skills and attention of a driver

JTTTP - JOURNAL OF TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT THEORY AND PRACTICE

Alcohol is recognized as one of the factors in the occurrence of traffic accidents, which significantly affects the occurrence of accidents and the severity of their consequences. In this paper, the results of the pilot survey present the measures of influence of intoxicated drivers on the status of their motor skills and attention in traffic. The effect of alcohol is simulated using the “drunk glasses” that simulate the effects of the alcohol on the human body: reduced alertness, slowed reactions, confusion, distortion of the visual field, change of distance and depth perception, narrowing of peripheral vision, poor judgment and decision making, image duplication, lack of muscle coordination and the like. Motor skills were tested using the “Vienna test” system which measures the reaction speed, motor skills, attention, concentration and the assessment of traffic situations. For the purposes of this study the results of the “Vienna test” were analyzed -a driver without “drunk glasse...