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Driver training conditions affect sensitivity to the impairing effects of alcohol on a simulated driving test corrected .

Author
Abstract
:

Research shows that prior behavioral training in a challenging environment reduces alcohol-induced impairment on simple psychomotor tasks. However, no studies have examined if this relationship generalizes to driving performance. The present study examined simulated driving performance and tested the hypothesis that a challenging training history would protect against the impairing effects of alcohol on driving performance. The challenging training history involved driving in a visually-impoverished environment. Thirty adults were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Two groups were tested under alcohol (0.65 g/kg) after prior experience performing the task under either a visually-impoverished environment or a normal visual environment. The remaining group served as a control and was trained and tested under the visually-impoverished condition environment. Results showed that individuals trained in the impoverished environment displayed sober levels of performance when their performance was subsequently tested under alcohol. By contrast, volunteers trained in a normal environment showed impairment under alcohol. The findings suggest that differences in driving training history can affect a driver's sensitivity to the impairing effects of alcohol.

Year of Publication
:
2007
Journal
:
Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology
Volume
:
15
Issue
:
6
Number of Pages
:
588-98
ISSN Number
:
1064-1297
URL
:
http://content.apa.org/journals/pha/15/6/588
DOI
:
10.1037/1064-1297.15.6.588
Short Title
:
Exp Clin Psychopharmacol
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