Author:
PEARSON PAULINE,TIMNEY BRIAN
Abstract
It has been suggested that acetylcholine plays
a role in contrast discrimination performance and the regulation
of visual contrast gain (Smith, 1996). Since alcohol has
been shown to reduce levels of acetylcholine and contrast
sensitivity, the present study measured the effects of
alcohol on contrast discrimination and explored whether
the deficits could be explained as a consequence of reduction
in contrast gain. Detection thresholds and contrast increment
thresholds under placebo and alcohol (0.06% BAC) conditions
were measured in six volunteers. Alcohol was found to impair
both detection and discrimination of only high spatial
frequencies. However, when the base contrasts used in the
increment threshold task were equal multiples of detection
threshold, no alcohol-induced changes in increment thresholds
were obtained at any spatial frequency. We conclude that
alcohol impairs contrast discrimination performance but
that no change in contrast gain mechanisms need be postulated
to account for the data.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Sensory Systems,Physiology
Cited by
9 articles.
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