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Alcohol and vigilance performance: a review

H S Koelega1

  • 1Department of Psychopharmacology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Psychopharmacology
|April 1, 1995
PubMed
Summary
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Alcohol significantly impairs driving skills, affecting attention and information processing even at low blood alcohol content (BAC) levels. This review suggests lowering the legal BAC limit to 0.02% for nighttime driving and high-risk groups.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychology
  • Forensic Science

Background:

  • Claims exist that vigilance tasks are insensitive to alcohol, while divided-attention tasks are highly sensitive.
  • A review of 38 studies comparing alcohol and placebo effects on vigilance tasks is presented.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To re-evaluate the sensitivity of different attentional tasks to alcohol's effects on driving skills.
  • To discuss the impact of alcohol on attention, information processing, and performance.
  • To assess the adequacy of current blood alcohol content (BAC) limits for driving.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic review and analysis of 38 comparative studies on alcohol and placebo effects.
  • Evaluation of the validity and sensitivity of various attentional tasks (vigilance, divided-attention, DSST, CFF, digit span, RTs).

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Main Results:

  • Both concentrated and divided-attention tasks are crucial for assessing alcohol's impact.
  • Task sensitivity to alcohol varies; some vigilance tasks detect impairment at 0.03% BAC, others are insensitive up to 0.10% BAC.
  • Alcohol primarily affects attention and information processing, impairing sustained and divided attention at 0.02-0.03% BAC.
  • Alcohol's effects are time-dependent, peaking during sleepiness (afternoon, after midnight).

Conclusions:

  • The usefulness of certain low-sensitivity tasks (DSST, CFF, digit span, RTs) is questionable.
  • Current BAC limits for driving are too high.
  • Evidence supports lowering the BAC driving limit to 0.02% for nighttime driving and high-risk groups (young, inexperienced drivers).