Driver training conditions affect sensitivity to the impairing effects of alcohol on a simulated driving test corrected .
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| Abstract | 
   :  
              Research shows that prior behavioral training in a challenging environment reduces alcohol-induced impairment on simple psychomotor tasks. However, no studies have examined if this relationship generalizes to driving performance. The present study examined simulated driving performance and tested the hypothesis that a challenging training history would protect against the impairing effects of alcohol on driving performance. The challenging training history involved driving in a visually-impoverished environment. Thirty adults were randomly assigned to one of three groups. Two groups were tested under alcohol (0.65 g/kg) after prior experience performing the task under either a visually-impoverished environment or a normal visual environment. The remaining group served as a control and was trained and tested under the visually-impoverished condition environment. Results showed that individuals trained in the impoverished environment displayed sober levels of performance when their performance was subsequently tested under alcohol. By contrast, volunteers trained in a normal environment showed impairment under alcohol. The findings suggest that differences in driving training history can affect a driver's sensitivity to the impairing effects of alcohol.  | 
        
| Year of Publication | 
   :  
              2007 
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| Journal | 
   :  
              Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology 
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| Volume | 
   :  
              15 
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| Issue | 
   :  
              6 
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| Number of Pages | 
   :  
              588-98 
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| ISSN Number | 
   :  
              1064-1297 
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| URL | 
   :  
              http://content.apa.org/journals/pha/15/6/588 
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| DOI | 
   :  
              10.1037/1064-1297.15.6.588 
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| Short Title | 
   :  
              Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 
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