The Effects of Alcohol on Motor Skills. Essays

The Effects of Alcohol on Motor Skills. Essays The Effects of Alcohol on Motor Skills. Essay The Effects of Alcohol on Motor Skills. Essay Alcohol is a liquid distilled product of fermented fruits, grains and vegetables used as solvent. It is probably the most widely used and abused substance that requires the customers to be given age before it is sold or used but this is not always the case because the use of under age drinkers are on increase.Alcohol is also a central nervous system depressant which affects virtually every organ in the body and chronic use can lead to numerous preventable diseases including alcoholism. Examples of Alcohol Vodka, whiskey, Beer.Alcoholism- Is a illness involving the excessive use of alcoholic beverages such as Vodka it is an addiction to the substance found in alcoholic drink called â€Å"ethanol† which is a psychoactive agent that affect the central nervous system of a human being. Ref. Martin et al 2007.Substance Abuse – Is a phrase being used by psychologist to refer to someone who poses a treat to himself or other people. People that drink and drive under the influenc e of alcohol area treat to themselves and others.Neuron activity in the brain controls one’s behavior, the use of alcohol controls the neuron activity, which now becomes suppressed by excessive use of alcohol,The drinker becomes less active, relaxed, and more outgoing. The motor skill co-ordination have now being impaired by this substance (alcohol), and the drinker will experience difficulty thinking straight, and clearly the more the alcohol consumed the further the impairment of the neuron activity in the brain, which eventually lead to loss of activity, memory loss, control of movement (Stritzke et al 1996).statistics have shown that the numbers of male drinkers are higher than the female drinkers by a ratio of five to one (Lauer 1989), as cited by Martin et al 2007.National data also shows alcohol related illness such as cirrhosis, and head/neck cancer are in the increase in the U.K, and E.U. (fact sheet Alcohol consumption harm in the U.K E.U, London IAS, 2003)This is what prompted us to ask the question!!!At what degree can alcohol impair an individuals motor skill abilities?Method of Background theory.The objective of this research was to test cognitive, and motor skills were not equally sensitive to a moderate dose of alcohol.20 male participants between the ages of 18-30, yrs were divided into 2 groups of 10. 60 male participants aged between 18-30, yrs were divided into 4 groups of 14. Al participants were healthy social drinkers, and randomly chosen from a group of volunteers from a university psychology dept. All participants performed a motor skill task with Pursuit Rotor, and Rapid Information Processing tasks.All participants attended a drug free task practice session where in the test was explained,and they completed a Drinking Habit Questionnaire to highlight any existing drinking problems.All participants were then asked to do the PR, ; then the RIP test 4 times in succession with 3 minute intervals of rest between each set of tasks . This was done to establish that results from the real tests could be attributed to the affect of alcohol on performance, and not unfamiliarity with the test content.All participants fasted for 4 hrs ; had no alcohol for 24 hrs. They were called in 1 to 10 days later for the â€Å"treatment session†, and all had to give breath samples to verify zero Blood Alcohol Concentrations (BAC).After this participants performed both PR ; RIP tasks to provide a drug free baseline with which to compare results from PR ; RIP tasks performed under the influence of alcohol.The participants were given 1 to 2 ratio of alcohol ; placebo ; carbonated mix, depending on which groups they have been allocated.The difference on experiment 1 ; 2 are that the participants in experiment 2 were being told that if they got the same score as the baseline score they would receive cash for the test. Pursuit Rotor (PR) Task consisted of a computer, monitor, and mouse on a tabletop, 75 cm above the floor. The participants sat in a chair directly in front of a computer screen that displayed a rectangular track (14 cm by 11.5 cm), and an on screen target (diameter = 1.3 cm) that moved at 23 rpm clockwise around the track. They tracked the target by moving a computer mouse to control an on screen circular cross-hair (diameter 1.3 cm), and were instructed to keep the cross-hair over the rotating target as long as possible during a test. One test consisted of three 50 second trials separated by a 20 second between-trial interval. The computer measured performance as a percentage of time on target during each test.Rapid Information Processing Task is a self-paced computerized task measures the rate of information processing. Participants sat in front of a computer screen while a fixed pseudo random sequence of 250 digits consisting of the numbers 1 to 8 was presented on the computer monitor. The entire sequence contained 11 triads of even digits, and 10 triads of odd digits. The yellow digits were 11.5 cm by 6 cm in size, and were presented one at a time on a blue background.Participants simply rested a finger on the #1 key on the computer number pad, and were told to press the key whenever they say any 3 consecutive even digits or any 3 consecutive odd digits. They were told to try to attain the highest digit presentation rate possible by correctly identifying as many of the digits triads as they could.The initial digit presentation rate was 90 digits per minute, and each correct response to a triad increased the speed of digit presentation by decreasing the inter stimulus interval (ISI) by 33 ms. A failure to respond to a triad, a correct response to triad after the next digit in the sequence had been presented or a response to a non-triad slowed the presentation rate by increasing the ISI by 33ms.The computer measured an individual’s rate of information processing by the mean number of digits presented per minute during a 5 minute test with greater digits per minute indicating faster information processing.In both experiments there was no significant difference in the results. It made no difference that in experiment 2 they were giving cash as an incentive.The conclusion (results) of this study indicates how disagreement over the sensitivity of cognitive, and motor skills to a moderate dose of alcohol may occur when impairment is only assessed at some particular BAC’s.;Method of my written proposalI will like my study to be conducted in Lab conditions.The participants would be psychology students from the University of East London, and would be over the legal age limit to consume alcohol.They must be social or regular drinkers.Participants would be randomly selected.I will apply the between test, there will be two groups.The independent variable would be one group receiving two drinks of 2.5 mils vodka mixed with 2.5 mils carbonated water, whilst group two would receive two drinks of 2.5 milscarbonated water, but the glass would b e sprayed with alcohol to give a strong alcoholic scent.The Dependant variable would be a test called the Rapid Information Processing Task Test.This test is a computerized test which is self paced. It measures the rate of information processing, and would last for five minutes.On the screen would appear a sequence of 250 digits. Participants would have to sit in front of the computer, and simply press the number one key whenever they saw any three consecutive even or odd digits at any time. Their aim is to achieve the highest digit presentation rate by identifying three consecutive digits.MaterialsThe materials to be used for this study is Laboratory, The participants are Undergraduate psychology students, computer, Vodka, Carbonated water and alcohol.ProcedureEthical Considerations.All participants to complete a general questionnaire, form and signed consent.We will seek to obtain approval from University of Human Research.Participants will be informed of their right to withdraw f rom the study at any time.Experiment to take place in Lab conditions.All personal information would be kept confidential, locked away, and password protected.Participants to be debriefed after experiment.ReferencesAlcohol Consumption and harm in the U.K and EU.(2003). London, IAS, Fact Sheet.Fogarty, N. J., ; Voget-Sprott, M. (2002). Cognitive processes and motor skills differ in sensitivity to alcohol impairment. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 63, 404-411.Martin, N. G., Carlson, R. N., ; Buskist, W. (2007). Psychology. (3rd ed), England, Pearson Education Limited.