Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Grand Forks, North Dakota » Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center » Healthy Body Weight Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #133901
Title: THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL HANGOVER ON PERFORMANCE

Author
item MOULTON, PATRICIA - UNIV OF NORTH DAKOTA
item APOSTAL, KATHRYN - UNIV OF NORTH DAKOTA
item PARK, RONALD - UNIV OF NORTH DAKOTA
item CAMERON, ELIZABETH - UNIV OF NORTH DAKOTA
item PETROS, THOMAS - UNIV OF NORTH DAKOTA
item Penland, James

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2000
Publication Date: 11/16/2000
Citation: Moulton, P., Apostal, K., Park, R., Cameron, E., Petros, T.V., Penland, J.G. 2000. The effect of alcohol hangover on performance [abstract]. Abstracts of the Psychonomic Society 41st Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, November 16-19, 2000. p.85.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Few studies have examined the impact of alcohol hangover on performance. In the present placebo-controlled study, 19 college-aged males were administered either 2.0 mL/kg of 100-proof vodka (10 subjects) or a placebo (9 subjects) in 3 equal-sized drinks during a 60-min period. Ten minutes after subjects finished drinking, average breath alcohol level (BAL) was 0.061 in treated subjects. Four hours later, subjects were administered the Digit Span, Digit Symbol and Letter-Number subtests from the WAIS-III, and an 18-min tracking task to measure eye-hand coordination. BAL after 4 hours was 0.022. No significant group differences were observed on any of the WAIS-III subtests. However, subjects who had received alcohol performed significantly worse (less time on target; p<0.05) than placebo subjects during the tracking task when configured for greatest difficulty (target moved at high speed in a counterclockwise circular direction). The results suggest that hangover can produce significant impairment under heavy task demands.