Performance-based alcohol screening devices may help reduce road traffic accidents, but there is a shortage of easy-to-use performance tests available. To address this issue, four recently developed rapid, computerized, easily implementable performance tests, Spiral for iPhone and Spiral for Mac (psychomotor tests), and the Modified Mental Rotation and Catch the Rabbit tests (cognitive tests), were assessed, testing participants at predrink baseline and then during three progressive amounts of alcohol intake. Analyses showed all tests were performed statistically significantly less accurately at 0.11% blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) than at 0.00% BAC, as were all tests except Spiral for iPhone at 0.06% BAC. These results indicate the suitability of all of these tests for measuring alcohol-induced impairment, and some potential for use as a practical performance-based alcohol screening device.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllenR. W.SteinA. C.JexH. R. (1984) Field test of a drunk driving warning system (DDWS). In American Association for Automotive Medicine, 28th Annual Proceedings. October 8–10, Denver, Colorado. Pp. 261–272.
2.
BrumbackT.CaoD.KingA. (2007) Effects of alcohol on psychomotor performance and perceived impairment in heavy binge social drinkers. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 91, 10–17.
3.
FillmoreM. T. (2003) Reliability of a computerized assessment of psychomotor performance and its sensitivity to alcohol-induced impairment. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 97, 21–34.
4.
FillmoreM. T.Vogel-SprottM. (1996) Social drinking history, behavioral tolerance and the expectation of alcohol. Psychopharmacology, 127, 359–364.
5.
FogartyJ. N.Vogel-SprottM. (2002) Cognitive processes and motor skills differ in sensitivity to alcohol impairment. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 63, 404–411.
6.
GeorgeS.RogersR. D.DukaT. (2005) The acute effect of alcohol on decision making in social drinkers. Psychopharmacology, 182, 160–169.
7.
GustafsonR. (1986) Alcohol and vigilance performance: effect of small doses of alcohol on simple visual reaction time. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 62, 951–955.
8.
GustafsonR.KällménH. (1990) Alcohol and the compensation hypothesis: a test with cognitive and psychomotor tasks. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 71, 1367–1374.
9.
HindmarchI.KerrJ. S.SherwoodN. (1991) The effect of alcohol and other drugs on psychomotor performance and cognitive function. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 26, 71–79.
10.
HuntW. A.WittE. D. (1994) Behavioral effects of alcohol ingestion: implications for drug testing. Toxic Substances Journal, 13, 41–49.
11.
JonesT. O.TennantJ. A. (1972) A critical evaluation of the Phystester: a test for driver impairment. American Association for Automotive Medicine, 16th Annual Proceedings. October 19–21, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Pp. 274–306.
12.
KingA. C.ByarsJ. A. (2004) Alcohol-induced performance impairment in heavy episodic and light social drinkers. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 65, 27–36.
13.
KoelegaH. S. (1995) Alcohol and vigilance performance: a review. Psychopharmacology, 118, 233–249.
14.
LinnoilaM.ErwinC. W.RammD.ClevelandW. P. (1980) Effects of age and alcohol on psychomotor performance of men. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 41, 488–495.
15.
MatsumuraK.SawadaY. (2004) [Controllability and hemodynamic reaction patterns during mental stress]. [Japanese Journal of Physiological Psychology and Psychophysiology], 22, 247–255. [in Japanese].
16.
MatsumuraK.SawadaY. (2009) [Cardiovascular responses during two kinds of mental arithmetic tasks]. [The Japanese Journal of Psychology], 79, 473–480. [in Japanese].
17.
MatthewsD. B.BestP. J.WhiteA. M.VandergriffJ. L.SimsonP. E. (1996) Ethanol impairs spatial cognitive processing: new behavioral and electrophysiological findings. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 5, 111–115.
18.
MitchellM. C. (1985) Alcohol-induced impairment of central nervous system function: behavioral skills involved in driving. Journal of Studies on Alcohol: Supplement, 10, 109–116.
19.
MoskowitzH.BurnsM. (1990) Effects of alcohol on driving performance. Alcohol Health & Research World, 14, 12–14.
20.
MoskowitzH.BurnsM. M.WilliamsA. F. (1985) Skills performance at low blood alcohol levels. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 46, 482–485.
OldfieldR. C. (1971) The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh Inventory. Neuropsychologia9, 97–113.
23.
ParrottA. C. (1991) Performance tests in human psychopharmacology(1): test reliability and standardization. Human Psychopharmacology, 6, 1–9.
24.
RoseA. K.DukaT. (2007) The influence of alcohol on basic motoric and cognitive disinhibition. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 42, 544–551.
25.
SchweizerT. A.Vogel-SprottM. (2008) Alcohol-impaired speed and accuracy of cognitive functions: a review of acute tolerance and recovery of cognitive performance. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16, 240–250.
26.
SoshiT.HagiwaraH. (2004) Asymmetry in linguistic dependency: linguistic and psychological studies of Japanese right dislocation. English Linguistics, 21, 409–453.
27.
StapletonJ. M.GuthrieS.LinnoilaM. (1986) Effects of alcohol and other psychotropic drugs on eye movements: relevance to traffic safety. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 47, 426–432.
28.
ThompsonR. R.TennantJ. A.RepaB. S. (1975) Vehicle-borne drunk driver countermeasures. In IsraelstamS.LambertS. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety. September 8–11, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Pp. 347–363.
29.
WeissenbornR.DukaT. (2003) Acute alcohol effects on cognitive function in social drinkers: their relationship to drinking habits. Psychopharmacology, 165, 306–312.
30.
ZhuW.VolkowN. D.MaY.FowlerJ. S.WangG. J. (2004) Relationship between ethanol-induced changes in brain regional metabolism and its motor, behavioural and cognitive effects. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 39, 53–58.
