Flight Simulator Performance of Younger and Older Aircraft Pilots: Effects of Age and Alcohol

Yesavage, Jerome A.; Dolhert, N.; Taylor, Joy L.

doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.1994.tb06852.x

Cited by 53 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…performed significantly worse during acute intoxication on ATC communication, on emergency detection, on approach to landing and on overall flight performance compared to pilots who ingested a placebo drink. After 8 h later, the overall flight performance of the pilots in the alcohol group was still significantly worse than the performance of the pilots in the placebo group (see Yesavage et al, 1994). Table 4 shows all mean flight summary change scores and flight component change scores of the pilots in the acute intoxication, 8 h-carryover, and placebo conditions and the t-values of the comparisons of the means.…”

Section: Study Iiifalcohol Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychoactive Drugs and Pilot Performance: A Comparison of Nicotine, Donepezil, and Alcohol Effects

Mumenthaler

Yesavage

Taylor

et al. 2003

Neuropsychopharmacol

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The cholinergic system plays a major role in cognitive abilities that are essential to piloting an aircraft: attention, learning, and memory. In previous studies, drugs that enhance the cholinergic system through different pharmacologic mechanisms have shown beneficial effects on cognition; but dissimilar cognitive measures were used and samples were not comparable. A comparison within the same cognitive tasks, within comparable samples appears desirable. Toward this aim, we compared effect sizes (ES) of performance-enhancing doses of nicotine (a nicotinic receptor agonist) and donepezil (an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor) as found in our prior work on pilot performance. We also compared cholinergic ES to those of performance-impairing doses of alcohol. In three randomized, placebo-controlled trials, we assessed the flight performance of aircraft pilots in a Frasca 141 simulator, testing I: the acute effects of nicotine gum 2 mg; II: the effects of administration of 5 mg donepezil/day for 30 days; and III: the acute and 8 h-carryover effects of alcohol after a target peak BAC of 0.10%. We calculated the ES of nicotine, donepezil, and alcohol on a flight summary score and on four flight component scores. Compared to placebo, nicotine and donepezil significantly improved, while alcohol significantly impaired overall flight performance: ES (nicotine) ¼ 0.80; ES (donepezil) ¼ 1.02; ES (alcohol acute) ¼ À3.66; ES (alcohol 8 h) ¼ À0.82. Both cholinergic drugs showed the largest effects on flight tasks requiring sustained visual attention. Although the two tested cholinergic drugs have different pharmacologic mechanisms, their effects on flight performance were similar in kind and size. The beneficial effects of the cholinergic drugs on overall flight performance were large and the absolute (ie nondirectional) sizes were about one-fourth of the absolute ES of acute alcohol intoxication and roughly the same as the absolute 8 h-carryover ES of alcohol.

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Section: Study Iiifalcohol Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychoactive Drugs and Pilot Performance: A Comparison of Nicotine, Donepezil, and Alcohol Effects

Mumenthaler

Yesavage

Taylor

et al. 2003

Neuropsychopharmacol

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“…Confusingly, some studies reported significant psychomotor performance impairment (Takala, 1958;Kelly et al, 1970;Seppälä et al, 1976;Bonte and Volck, 1978;Myrsten et al, 1980;Laurell and Törnros, 1983;Yesavage and Von Leirer, 1986;Roehrs et al, 1991;Yesavage et al, 1994;Anderson and Dawson, 1999), whereas other studies did not (Carroll et al, 1964;Ideström and Cadenius, 1968;Dowd et al, 1973;Collins and Chiles, 1980;Collins, 1980;Morrow et al, 1990;Törnros and Laurell, 1991;Lemon et al, 1993;Chait and Perry, 1994;Streufert et al, 1995;Taylor et al, 1996;Finnigan et al, 1998). Taking into account that the majority of participants in these studies did report hangover symptoms, the inconclusive results are rather unexpected.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some studies examined hangover effects after drinking during daytime, without sleeping opportunities (Yesavage et al, 1994;Taylor et al, 1996). Results from these studies are difficult to interpret, since normally binge drinking takes place during the evening or night.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alcohol Hangover Effects on Memory Functioning and Vigilance Performance after an Evening of Binge Drinking

Verster

Duin

Volkerts

et al. 2002

Neuropsychopharmacol

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The impairing effects on memory functioning after acute alcohol intoxication in healthy volunteers and after chronic use in alcoholics are well established. However, research determining the next-morning effects of a single episode of binge drinking on memory functioning is scarce. A total of 48 healthy volunteers participated in a single-blind study comprising an evening (baseline) session, followed by a treatment administration (ethanol 1.4 g/kg or placebo), and a morning session. Memory was tested with a word-learning test (including immediate and delayed recall, and recognition). Further, a 45-min Mackworth clock test for measuring vigilance was included (parameters: number of hits and false alarms) and subjective alertness was assessed, to infer whether word-learning test findings reflect sedation or specific memory impairments. Delayed recall in the morning session was significantly worse in the alcohol group when compared to the placebo group (F 1,42 ¼ 6.0, po0.02). In contrast, immediate recall and recognition were unimpaired in the alcohol group. In the morning session, relative to the placebo group, subjective alertness was significantly reduced in the alcohol group before and after the tests (F 1,44 ¼ 8.7, po0.005; F 1,44 ¼ 13.3, po0.001, respectively). However, in the Mackworth clock test, the alcohol group and placebo group did not differ significantly in the morning session. The specific findings of impaired delayed recall show that memory retrieval processes are significantly impaired during alcohol hangover. Vigilance performance was not significantly affected, indicating that this memory impairment does not reflect sedation.

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“…Although Collins and Chiles (31) failed to find hangover effects on simulated aircraft flight performance the day after drinking (0.093 g% mean BAC), other flight simulator studies did find effects (27,(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37). Military pilot performance in the alcohol condition (0.10 g% BAC) was significantly worse on three of six measures 14 h after alcohol administration, indicating that even highly trained pilots can experience performance decrements due to residual effects of alcohol intoxication (32).…”

Section: Residual Effects On Simulated Aircraft Flight and Automobilementioning

confidence: 94%

“…It is possible that heavy drinking could affect next-day performance on neurocognitive tests without affecting well-learned occupational tasks. Nevertheless, several simulator studies did find that job performance was affected (27,(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)39). It is important that further research be conducted on the residual effects of a range of alcohol exposures because alcohol may not be detectible by screening the morning after heavy drinking (e.g., breath test).…”

Section: Summary Of Residual Effects Studiesmentioning

confidence: 97%

How Safe are Federal Regulations on Occupational Alcohol Use?

Howland

Almeida²,

Rohsenow³

et al. 2006

J Public Health Pol

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Current US federal regulations on occupational alcohol use for safety-sensitive jobs do not account for impairment from low doses of alcohol and next day effects of heavy drinking. Research on the effects of low doses of alcohol on neurocognitive and simulated occupational tasks suggests that the current per se level of these regulations is set too high. Research on the effects of heavy drinking on next-day neurocognitive and simulated occupational performance is mixed and suggests that further research is needed to determine the safety of current "bottle-to-throttle" times. Although low-dose and residual drinking effects may pose low relative risk for occupational error, the aggregate contribution of these exposures to workplace problems may be substantial, given the number of people exposed.

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Flight Simulator Performance of Younger and Older Aircraft Pilots: Effects of Age and Alcohol

Abstract: This study replicates the findings of earlier studies that an 8-hour waiting period from "Bottle-to-Throttle" is insufficient but finds little difference according to age in recollection of a previously learned task or in susceptibility to either acute or hangover effects of alcohol.

Cited by 53 publications

References 8 publications

Psychoactive Drugs and Pilot Performance: A Comparison of Nicotine, Donepezil, and Alcohol Effects

Psychoactive Drugs and Pilot Performance: A Comparison of Nicotine, Donepezil, and Alcohol Effects

Alcohol Hangover Effects on Memory Functioning and Vigilance Performance after an Evening of Binge Drinking

How Safe are Federal Regulations on Occupational Alcohol Use?

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