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Effects of alcohol and caffeine on maritime navigational skills.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>01/2000
<mark>Journal</mark>Ergonomics
Issue number1
Volume43
Number of pages10
Pages (from-to)17-26
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Twelve experienced navigators participated in an experiment to determine the effects of alcohol, caffeine, and an alcohol + caffeine mixture on performance during the following tasks: visual search, the search and location of items on a navigational chart (chartsearch) and the solving of maritime navigational problems. Alcohol (75 ml) produced impairment in performance on visual search (p < 0.05) and navigational problem-solving (p < 0.01). Caffeine was found to enhance performance on visual search (p < 0.05) but not on the chartsearch, although a significant correlation was found between performance on the two tests (p < 0.05). Caffeine was not found to improve the accuracy of navigational problem-solving (p > 0.05). Neither alcohol nor caffeine had any significant effect on the speed of problem-solving (p > 0.05).