Some Performance Effects of Age and Low Blood Alcohol Levels on a Computerized Neuropsychological Test.

Abstract

COGSCREEN is a computerized test battery developed for the Federal Aviation Administration as an airman neuropsychological screening instrument for cognitive functioning. This study explored a multifaceted application of the sensitivity of the battery to potential differences in performance capabilities, current civil aviation interest in the performance effects of low levels of blood alcohol, and the potential significance of age on cognitive performance. Nine of 11 basic COGSCREEN tests were used with 60 subjects divided into three age groups, 27-32, 42-47, and 57-62 years. Twelve subjects within each age category (N=36) comprise an alcohol group; 8 subjects within each age category (N=24) comprised a control group. Subjects were given four 30-minute sessions of training on the task battery during one afternoon and participated in experimental sessions on the next afternoon. Experimental sessions comprised a pre-drinking (baseline) and three post-drinking sessions targeted to breath alcohol (BrAC) levels of 0.04, 0.027, and 0.014% for the alcohol group; each control subject received a placebo. The results yielded statistically significant age effects on 20 of 25 measures of performance acrossthe9 tas 5 for the pre-drinking sessions favoring the younger age group, using the entire subject population (N=60). An analysis using only the control subjects of age effects on 18 of the 25 measures of performance on both the baseline and the post-baseline sessions; whereas, the analysis the alcohol subjects (N=36) found significant age differences on 15 of 25 scores for the pre-drinking session and only 13, 11, and 10 of 25 on the post-drinking sessions respectively.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1995
Accession Number
ADA292324

Entities

People

  • David J. Schroder
  • Howard C. Harris Jr.
  • Thomas E. Nesthus
  • William E. Collins

Organizations

  • Federal Aviation Administration

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Age Groups
  • Aviation Medicine
  • Cognition
  • Computer Programming
  • Computers
  • Digestive System Processes
  • Human Behavior
  • Information Processing
  • Information Science
  • Light Pens
  • Mental Processes
  • Motivation
  • Psychological Tests
  • Psychology
  • Reaction Time
  • Simulators
  • Transportation

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

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