Citation

Burns M. Proc. Int. Counc. Alcohol Drugs Traffic Safety Conf. 1995; 1995: 430-434.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, The author(s) and the Council, Publisher International Council on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Cocaine use often is part of night time social activities. To examine the drug's effects in combination with time-of-day variables, 24 male Ss were given cocaine and tested between 1830 and 2400. After 8 hrs sleep in the laboratory, Ss were tested the following morning. Treatments were 5 mg (placebo), 96 mg, and 126 mg cocaine taken intranasally in 3 equal amounts at half hr intervals. The first test battery began 25 mins after the third dose and the second battery began 3 hrs later. Day 2 testing began half hr after Ss arose. Although subjectively-experienced stimulation by cocaine is relatively short-lived, divided attention (D-A) and vigilance (VIG) data appear to demonstrate longer-duration performance effects. Performance was poorer near midnight than at the early test time, but the difference was significant for overall D-A performance only in the placebo condition. At the second test time, scores were better with cocaine than with placebo. VIG RTs were significantly slowed at the second test time with 5 mg or 96 mg cocaine; with 126 mg there was no significant difference between test times. A trend toward poorer performance was observed on the morning after cocaine in comparison to the morning after placebo.