The Effects of Atropine Sulfate on Aviator Performance

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of atropine sulfate on pilot performance, as measured in a flight simulator, and to investigate physiological correlates of this effect. The six dependent measures of flying the simulator using standard instrument procedures indicated the significant effects of atropine was found between the 0.5 and the 4.0 mg levels atropine. The most significant effect was to the 4.0 mg level. For the Sternberg secondary task, reaction time and accuracy showed no atropine effects. Mean heart period (MHP), heart period variance (HPV), showed the effects of atropine sulfate and the time course of the effect. It was concluded that the 4.0 mg level of atropine produced significant performance decrements and increased the risk of error when performing complex pilot tasks. The performance effects were found to lag the physiological effects. Keywords: Pilot performance, Simulators, Atropine sulfate, Sternberg task, Chemical warfare, Organophosphate compounds, Instrument flight tasks.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1989
Accession Number
ADA224916

Entities

People

  • Bruce C. Richardson
  • Henry L. Taylor
  • John A. Dellinger
  • Martha H. Weller
  • Stephen W. Porges

Organizations

  • University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Analysis Of Variance
  • Cardiac Arrhythmias
  • Chemical Warfare
  • Chemical Warfare Agents
  • Cognition
  • Flight Simulators
  • Health Services
  • Heart Rate
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Instrument Flight
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Pilots
  • Simulators
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Task Performance And Analysis

Readers

  • Aviation Science / Aeronautics.
  • Neurotoxicology