[The effect of smoking and alcohol on decreased reaction time and mental arithmetic]

Simple reaction time to acoustic and visual signals and reaction time in combination with mental arithmetic were measured by means of an adjusted microcomputer in 16 healthy volunteers--university students. The over 1,200 tests performed yielded the following results: 1) Smoking of two consecutive cigarettes or peroral intake of 0.9 ml/kg of 48% alcohol not only failed to accelerate simple reaction time but even slowed it down. 2) Alcohol in the doses administered tended to slow down also the reaction time combined with mental arithmetic. 3) After smoking two cigarettes mental arithmetic was not significantly changed. 4) The applied method proved to be very suitable for testing psychophysiological effects of substances affecting the CNS and can be recommended for studying changes in motor and psychic functions. (Fig.3,Ref.38.).