Antiemetic Drugs and Pilot Performance.
Abstract
This study evaluated the effects on human performance of three antiemetic drugs. The effects on pilot performance in a flight simulator were determined using the commonly prescribed dosages, standardized for a 70 kg person, of thiethylperazine (10 mg), promethazine hydrochloride (25 mg) cimetidine (300 mg), and a placebo control. Two tasks, a two-dimensional tracking task which part of an instrument landing system (ILS) approach and the Sternberg choice reaction time task, were used to generate pilot performance data. A Latin square design was used to balance treatment order effects, and each subject received each treatment condition. Log root mean square (RMS) deviation values, computed from the simulator flight data (altitude straight and level, altitude turning, localizer (lateral) tracking, glideslope (vertical tracking) were used in a multivariate analysis of variance to test the main effects. An approximate F-test, based on Wilk's criterion, resulted in F(12,87) =2.47, (P<0.0008) for the treatment main effect (drug). Univariate analyses resulted in a significant drug main effect on two primary task variables--altitude straight and level and localizer tracking. Contrasts between the three antiemetic drugs and the placebo were used to test the hypothesis of no significant difference between treatment pairs. The contrasts between promethazine hydrochloride and the control were significant for altitude straight and level and for glideslope tracking. The other contrasts were not significant except for the control-thiethylperazine contrast for the localizer tracking variable.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA162109
Entities
People
- Bruce C. Richardson
- Fred C. Hyman
- Henry L. Taylor
- John A. Dellinger
- Martha H. Weller
Organizations
- University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign