title: Detecting impairment: sensitive cognitive measures of dose-related acute alcohol intoxication.
abstract: The cognitive impairment that results from acute alcohol intoxication is associated with considerable safety risks. Other psychoactive substances, such as medications, pose a similar risk to road and workplace safety. However, there is currently no legal limit for operating vehicles or working while experiencing drug-related impairment. The current study sought to identify a brief cognitive task sensitive to a meaningful degree of impairment from acute alcohol intoxication to potentially stand as a reference from which to quantify impairment from other similar substances. A placebo-controlled single-blind crossover design was employed to determine the relative sensitivity of four commonly-administered cognitive tasks (Compensatory Tracking Task, Digit Symbol Substitution Test, Brief Stop Signal Task and Inspection Time Task) to alcohol-related impairment in male social drinkers at ~0.05% ascending breath alcohol concentration (BrAC), ~0.08% peak BrAC and 0.05% descending BrAC. The Inspection Time Task was identified as the most sensitive task, detecting a medium to large magnitude increase in impairment (g ≈ 0.60) at 0.05% ascending and descending BrAC, and a large magnitude effect size (g = 0.80) at 0.08% peak BrAC. The remaining tasks failed to demonstrate sensitivity to dose-dependent and limb-dependent changes in alcohol-induced impairment. The Inspection Time Task was deemed the most sensitive task for screening alcohol-related impairment based on the present results. Confirmation of equivalence with other drug-related impairment and sensitivity to alcohol-induced impairment in real-world settings should be established in future research.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cash
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peacock
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Barrington
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sinnett
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia Raimondo.Bruno@utas.edu.au.
authors.forename: Raimondo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bruno
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000435:Alcoholic Intoxication / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001944:Breath Tests; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Ethanol; attention; cognition/drug Effects; dose–response relationship; drug; drug abuse; ethanol/pharmacology; male; psychomotor performance; screening; young adult