EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON VISUAL SEARCH AND MOTOR PERFORMANCE DURING COMPLEX TASK PERFORMANCE
John A. Stern, Larky R. Beideman, Spencer C. Chen · 1976
Electrooculographically recorded eye movements and outputs from wheel, accelerator, brake and turn signal indicator were obtained while subjects were driving an automobile siumlator under both sober and conditions (average BAC levels of 73 mgm%). Significant changes in as pects of visual search, eye blink and motor output were obtained both as a function of state (sober vs. inebriated) and time-on-task (fatigue effects). Data reduction utilzed a small digital computer (PDP-12) and examples of types of analysis performed are presented. Consistent, across subjects, results were obtained for the visual search parameters with respect to alcohol effects. The patterns of decrements in performance as a function of alcohol were more individualized. On the latter measures, in general, subjects performed with shorter response latencies when inebriated by demonstrated markedly impaired performance as measured by such variables as slope of response, overshoot in response, and vacillatory compensatory reactions. On the visual search measures alcohol effects were manifested by decrements in incidence of saccadic eye movements (longer fixation pauses), more rapid development of fatigue effects, alteration in patterning of visual search activity, and significant changes in blink patterns. /A/