EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON DECISION-MAKING BEHAVIOR IN A VISUAL DETECTION TASK

ON DECISION-MAKING BEHAVIOR IN A CONTROLLED LABORATORY STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO INVESTIGATE THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON DECISION-MAKING BEHAVIOR IN A CONTROLLED LABORATORY VISUAL DETECTION TASK. THROUGH THE USE OF THE THEORY OF SIGNAL DETECTABILITY (TSD) AND ATTEMPT WAS MADE TO DETERMINE THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL ON BOTH THE SUBJECT'S SENSITIVITY TO A SIGNAL AND HIS RESPONSE CRITERION. EIGHT SUBJECTS PERFORMED A VISUAL DETECTION TASK UNDER THREE LEVELS OF BLOOD ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION, 0.00, (PLACEBO); 0.04% - 0.06%; AND 0.07%-0.09%. THE DETECTION TASK CONSISTED OF DETECTING LONG DURATION BRIGHTNESS CHANGES FROM SHORT DURATION CHANGES WHICH APPEARED ON A LIGHTED DISPLAY. EACH SUBJECT WAS REQUIRED TO RATE THE STRENGTH OF HIS DECISION ON A SIX-POINT SCALE. ANALYSES OF PERCENT DETECTIONS, PERCENT FALSE ALARMS, AND TSD PARAMETERS, DEMONSTRATED THAT ALCOHOL HAD NO EFFECT ON THE SUBJECT'S PERFORMANCE. THE IMPLICATIONS OF THESE RESULTS WERE DISCUSSED IN TERMS OF THE SUBJECT'S ABILITY TO COMPENSATE FOR THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL IN VERY SIMPLE DECISION TASK AND FUTURE RESEARCH NEEDS WERE DESCRIBED. /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Res Rept 4, 25 PP
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  Highway Traffic Safety Center, 418 Engineering Hall
  Urbana, IL  United States  61801
• Authors:
  • WILLIGES, R C
  • Huffman, W J
• Publication Date: 1970-5

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcohols; Blood alcohol levels; Brightness; Decision making; Drivers; Information display systems; Laboratory tests; Vision; Visual perception
• Old TRIS Terms: Displays; Driver vision
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223260
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 17 1970 12:00AM