College of Pharmacy Faculty Research ​and Publications

Simulated Evaluation of Drug-Impaired Psychomotor Performance

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

International Journal of Clinical Toxicology and Pharmacology

Publication Date

7-23-2014

Volume

3

Issue

201

First Page

1

Last Page

10

Abstract

The purpose of this placebo-controlled, randomized-crossover study was to evaluate a computer-based divided-attention task as a method for measure impaired human psychomotor performance. The ability of the divided-attention task to detect and differentiate was evaluated using single oral doses of placebo, caffeine and diphenhydramine. Ten healthy men were the subjects of the study. Subject performance on divided-attention was compared with tests of short-term memory and a set of visual analogue scales. The study also assessed potential learning and boredom effects associated with the testing procedures. The results indicate a divided-attention task can detect and differentiate effects of diphenhydramine from those of caffeine and placebo; however, it cannot differentiate effects of caffeine at the doses utilized from that of placebo. Visual analogue scale results corroborated these findings. Observations show that the short-term memory test was not sensitive to the effects of study medication. While the results observed with this convenient, computer-based divided-attention task are promising, additional studies need to be conducted with other classes of CNS-active drugs and over a range of doses.

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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Richmond R

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