Effects of Age and Acute Moderate Alcohol Administration on Neurophysiology During Simulated Driving

Abstract

BACKGROUND Driver age and blood alcohol concentration are both important factors in predicting driving risk, however little is known regarding the joint import of these factors on neural activity following socially-relevant alcohol doses. We examined age and alcohol effects on brain oscillations during simulated driving, focusing on two region-specific frequency bands implicated in task performance and attention: posterior alpha power (PAP; 8–12 Hz) and frontal theta power (FTP; 4–7 Hz). METHODS Participants included 80 younger (25–35 years) and 40 older (55–70 years) community-dwelling, moderate drinkers. Participants consumed placebo, low, or moderate doses of alcohol designed to achieve target peak BrACs of 0, .04 or .065 g/dL, respectively. Electrophysiology was collected during engagement in a simulated driving task involving four scenarios of varied environmental complexity. RESULTS A main effect of age was detected in FTP, but neither an alcohol effect nor interactions were observed. For PAP, an age by alcohol interaction was detected. Relative to placebo controls, older and younger participants receiving low dose (.04 g/dL) alcohol evinced divergent PAP alterations, with a pattern of higher power among older participants and lower power among younger. This interaction was noted across the varied environmental contexts. DISCUSSION These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that compared to younger individuals, older drivers may be differentially susceptible to alcohol effects. While these age by alcohol interactions in neural activity are provocative, further investigation exploring the mechanisms and behavioral correlates of these effects will be crucial in determining their behavioral impact.

Working Memory Performance Following Acute Alcohol: Replication and Extension of Dose by Age Interactions

“…This pattern persists in ecologically relevant simulated driving behavior (Price et al, 2018; and EEG measures gathered during driving . These studies are consistent with our overarching hypothesis of age-related vulnerability to alcohol, but more provocatively, also commonly demonstrate age-contingent divergence of alcohol effects across measures (e.g., Boissoneault et al, 2014;Lewis et al, 2016;Price et al, 2018). Although these investigations included men and women as research participants, they were insufficiently powered for meaningful analysis of complex interactions between age, alcohol, and sex.…”

Effects of acute alcohol and driving complexity in older and younger adults

“…allowing longer headway time to respond (Andrews & Westerman, 2012; Molnar & Eby, 2008; Walker et al, 1997)]. With the exception of Quillian et al and our own laboratory (Sklar et al, 2014; Lewis et al, 2016), the large majority of alcohol driving studies engage adult drinkers under the age of 55. Given the increasing numbers of older drinkers (Breslow et al, 2017) and hence an increasing number of older drinkers who drive, integrated studies of aging and alcohol on driving are needed.…”

“…This pattern suggested a differential engagement of inhibitory processing under alcohol conditions by age. (Lewis et al, 2016). Given this finding, we wanted to examine responding to specific contextual stimuli which were either relevant or irrelevant within the driving scenarios.…”

Drinking patterns and adherence to “low-risk” guidelines among community-residing older adults

“…Attention to the complex relationships between alcohol use and age continues to grow both in fields focused on alcohol/substance use (e.g., Breslow et al, 2017; Woods et al, 2016) and on aging (e.g., McEvoy et al, 2013; Wardzala et al, 2017). Among the former, and including the work of our group (e.g., Lewis et al, 2016; Sklar et al, 2014; Boissoneault et al, 2014), empirical investigations of age and alcohol effects commonly control for participants’ average alcohol consumption by employing selection criteria (e.g., adherence to NIAAA guidelines) or covariate analyses. However, measures of frequency and quantity are rarely considered.…”

“…Institutional Review Boards at the University of Florida and University of Kentucky approved all procedures. Data were gathered in the context of screening procedures for ongoing research studies (e.g., Lewis et al, 2016; Boissoneault et al, 2014; Sklar et al, 2014; Gilbertson et al, 2010). Participants were adult, community-residing drinkers, recruited through a variety of local print and radio advertisements, who provided written informed consent and were compensated for their time.…”