Citation

Strohbeck-Kühner P. Blutalkohol 1998; 35(6): 434-446.

Affiliation

Inst. fur Rechts-/Verkehrsmedizin, Verkehrsmedizin/Verkehrspsychologie, Klinikum der Universitat Heidelberg, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, International Committee on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety and Bund gegen Alkohol und Drogen im Straßenverkehr, Publisher Steintor Verlag)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The aim of this experimental study was to examine the impact of low to moderate alcohol levels (0.65 (per mille)) on attention performance and physiological activation (heart rate) depending on the subject's drinking history. The study was conducted with the Aufmerksamkeits-Prufgerat (APG). In a placebo controlled double blind design with repeated measurement, 48 subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental or control group. Measurements were carried out both when sober and after treatment. Heart rate was continuously monitored (Biopac 2000) while the subjects were performing the tests. The results clearly indicate that subjects under the influence of alcohol tend to concentrate on stimuli in the central attention field and neglect stimuli in the peripheral attention field. A more detailed analysis revealed that merely subjects with a low drinking frequency showed impaired attention performance. On the other hand, during the test, subjects with a high drinking frequency showed an increased cardio-vascular activation while under the influence of alcohol. It can be concluded that the increased activation in this particular group is a concomitant of increased effort during the test. Therefore the results suggest that subjects with a high drinking frequency, in the short term, are able to compensate alcohol induced attention deficits through increased effort.