Effects of alcohol and caffeine on maritime navigational skills.
Twelve experienced navigators participated in an experiment to determine the effects of alcohol, caffeine, and an alcohol+caffeine mixture on performance during the following tasks: visual search, the search and location of items on a navigational chart (chartsearch) and the solving of maritime navigational problems. Alcohol (75 ml) produced impairment in performance on visual search (p<0.05) and navigational problem-solving (p<0.01). Caffeine was found to enhance performance on visual search (p<0.05) but not on the chartsearch, although a significant correlation was found between performance on the two tests (p<0.05). Caffeine was not found to improve the accuracy of navigational problem-solving (p>0.05). Neither alcohol nor caffeine had any significant effect on the speed of problem-solving (p>0.05).
Marsden
G
G
Department of Psychology, University of Lancaster, UK.
Leach
J
J
D000328:Adult; D002110:Caffeine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000187:drug effects*; D009326:Naval Medicine; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
D002110:Caffeine; D000431:Ethanol