Effects of Alcohol Intoxication on Risk Taking, Strategy, and Error Rate in Visuomotor Performance
How are certain components of VM performance affected by alcohol intoxication?
Alcohol intoxication is not uncommon among certain groups of employees (e.g., Rosse, Crown, & Feldman, 1990). Diminished task performance during or following intoxication may result in lost productivity property damage, injury, or loss of life, especially when intoxicated persons are truck drivers, pilots, officers in control of a large vessel, or air traffic controllers - For example, 33% of fatally injured truck drivers have tested positively for alcohol and other drug abuse (National Transportation Safety Board, 1990).
Danger might arise whenever one or more components of an intoxicated individual's visuomotor (VM) competence are diminished. Despite a multitude of research, it is not yet clear how certain components of VM performance are affected by alcohol intoxication. Studies focusing on multiple VM competencies (e.g., Peterson, Rothfleisch, Zelazo, & Pihl, 1990) have been relatively rare.
