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THE INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL ON THE DETECTION OF LIGHT SIGNALS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE VISUAL FIELD
Author(s) -
Wright J. M. von,
Mikkonen Valde
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1970.tb00732.x
Subject(s) - alcohol , task (project management) , psychology , signal (programming language) , audiology , tracking (education) , visual field , social psychology , communication , computer science , chemistry , medicine , neuroscience , pedagogy , biochemistry , programming language , management , economics
6 subjects performed 12 times each a signal detection task lasting 40 minutes in parallel with a simple tracking task. They reported every 2nd second whether or not a signal was given in any one of 10 widely spaced locations. 0.5 or 1.0 ml alcohol/kg body weight (or no alcohol) was given 35–25 minutes prior to the task. Hit rate ( HR ) covaried with tracking efficiency; FAR was uniformly low. Variation in signal probability had no effect. Alcohol had a strong and uniform effect on 3 “experienced” subjects, reducing HR for all signals and producing a funneling effect, but had little effect on the performance of 3 “inexperienced” subjects. Motivational variables which may account for the individual differences are discussed.