Search resultsSaccadic eye movements after low-dose oral alcohol exposure
Title
Saccadic eye movements after low-dose oral alcohol exposure
Publication type
Journal Article
Year of Publication
2013
Authors
Journal
Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
Volume
20
Issue
7
Pagination
870 - 874
Date published
2013
ISBN
1752928X (ISSN)
Keywords
Administration, Oral, Adolescent, Adult, alcohol, alcohol blood level, alcohol consumption, Alcohol Drinking, article, Central Nervous System Depressants, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Ethanol, eye movement, Female, Fitness to drive, human, human experiment, Humans, latent period, Low-dose alcohol intake, male, Middle Aged, normal human, oculography, recording, Saccades, Saccadic eye movement, Traffic medicine, Young Adult
Abstract
Objectives The influence of low-dose alcohol intake on reflexive visually guided saccades was investigated. Methods 40 healthy human subjects were orally given alcohol resulting in low-dose alcohol concentration (less than 0.8‰) blood alcohol concentration. Before and after exposure, horizontal saccadic eye movements were recorded at several points in time. The recordings were evaluated with regard to accuracy of the eye movements, latency, the peak eye velocity and the time constant that characterizes the main sequence. The results were compared to recordings from a reference group. Results It was found that the saccadic eye movement was clearly altered by low-dose alcohol intake. However, its characteristics were not unambiguously pathological when compared to the reference group, even though the subjects reported a moderate to strong effect of alcohol and there were clear signs of inebriation. Conclusions The findings render the evaluation of saccades unsuitable as a simple test for the detection of low-dose alcohol intake.