Variation of performance, of self-reported alertness and effort as a function of low doses of alcohol and of driving experience

Berthelon, Catherine; Galy, Edith · 2020 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1186/s12544-020-00431-9

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Summary

This study investigates how low doses of alcohol and driving experience interact to affect driving performance, self-reported alertness, and mental effort. Motivated by the high crash risk among young novice drivers and the unclear mechanisms of alcohol’s impact on mental state, the research aims to evaluate these factors during a monotonous driving task. The authors hypothesized that low alcohol intake, combined with low physiological alertness in the early afternoon, would impair performance more severely for novice drivers and that increased effort would correlate with decreased alertness. The experiment employed a single-blind, counterbalanced crossover design using a high-fidelity driving simulator. Thirty participants were divided into two groups: fifteen young novice drivers (18 years old, <2 months licensed) and fifteen young experienced drivers (21 years old, 3 years licensed). Each participant completed three 45-minute driving sessions at a constant speed of 110 km/h on a rural highway scenario, under three Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) conditions: 0.0, 0.2, and 0.5 g/l. Objective performance metrics included Standard Deviation of Lateral Position (SDLP) and speed variability. Subjective measures were collected using the Thayer checklist for alertness and the NASA-TLX questionnaire for effort. Statistical analyses included ANOVA and Generalized Linear Models to assess interactions between alcohol, experience, and subjective states. Results indicated that alcohol significantly deteriorated both lateral and longitudinal trajectory stability, particularly at a BAC of 0.5 g/l. While all participants reported decreased alertness after driving, the behavioral responses differed by experience. Young novice drivers responded to low alertness by increasing effort and reducing speed, which helped maintain some stability despite poorer performance metrics. In contrast, young experienced drivers increased their speed when effort increased under alcohol influence, particularly at 0.5 g/l BAC, leading to worse longitudinal stability. This suggests that alcohol reduces inhibitory processes more strongly in experienced drivers, causing them to drive faster despite higher perceived effort. Novice drivers, aware of their limitations, adopted a compensatory strategy of slowing down. The findings imply that alcohol degrades driving performance through distinct mechanisms depending on driver experience. The reduction in inhibitory control caused by alcohol leads to risky speeding behaviors in experienced young drivers, whereas novices compensate by reducing speed. These results support the argument for lowering the legal blood alcohol limit for all young drivers, as even low doses impair performance and alter risk perception. The study highlights the importance of considering subjective mental states like effort and alertness alongside objective performance metrics to understand driving impairment.

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• alcohol
• novice drivers

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• Theoretical Contribution: theory or model