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Biomedical subjects

V J Gawron

Publications and source records attributed to V J Gawron.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

The effects of spot treatments on performance in a driving simulator under sober and alcohol-dosed conditions.

Accident studies have identified nighttime conditions on rural roads as particular problems for alcohol-impaired drivers. Uneventful driving is hypothesized to result in progressive degradation of tracking performance and a reduced ability to handle the demands of hazardous locations, such as curves. To address these problems, four spot treatments (i.e. herringbone road marking, flashing beacon, chevron, and post delineator) were evaluated in a driving simulator. Twelve subjects drove a simulator under two conditions of task demand (with and without obstacles) and three levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC): .00%, .07%, and .12%. The purpose of the study was to determine whether providing enhanced visual information about hazardous areas would improve the performance of subjects when sober or alcohol-dosed. Driver performance measures included speed, lateral position, and lateral acceleration on the approach and negotiation of horizontal curves of varying length and curvature. The results indicate that spot treatment effects were primarily curve-specific rather than uniform across curves. The effectiveness of spot treatments as alcohol countermeasures is discussed.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed1990

Effects of pyridostigmine bromide on in-flight aircrew performance.

The effects of a chemical defense pretreatment drug, pyridostigmine bromide (PB), on in-flight aircrew performance were assessed using the Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS) aircraft. TIFS was used to supply appropriate control dynamics, handling characteristics, and cockpit instrumentation for a tactical transport airdrop simulation. Twenty-one C-130 pilots flew two familiarization and four data flights. During two data flights PB was given to both members of the aircrew using the dosage regimen of 30 mg/8 h prescribed by the U.S. Air Force surgeon general. The drug was administered using a double-blind technique. The results indicated that (1) aircrews successfully completed their assigned mission, (2) airdrop inaccuracies and navigation errors in time and distance were not specifically related to PB, (3) performance and crew coordination were not affected by PB, (4) PB and pilot/copilot not discriminate beyond chance between PB and placebo conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

In search of an inherent ordering of vowel phonemes, or do pilots hear like engineers do?

To test the hypothesis that formant frequencies might provide an inherent ordering scheme for vowel sounds, two groups of subjects were asked to place six Italian vowel phonemes (A, O, U, AE, E, and I) into the most musically pleasing order. A subsequent chi 2 analysis of selections of the first group (21 music students and engineers) indicated a reliable consistency in vowel order supporting the hypothesis. Analysis of the second group (12 pilots) did not indicate any consistent ordering. The results are discussed in terms of hearing damage associated with exposure to high frequency aircraft noise.

Aerospace Medicine↗
PubMed1985

The effects of task performance on ocular accommodation and perceived size.

Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that performance of cognitive tasks tends to induce outward shifts in ocular accommodation that, in turn, result in changes in perceived size. In the first study, 12 subjects participated in each of 4 conditions; rest or performance of a running-memory task each with either visual or auditory stimuli. In each condition, subjects made four size judgments and their mean accommodation was measured using an infrared optometer. Dark focus of accommodation was measured before and after the experiment. There were no reliable differences among the four conditions, nor between the pre- and postexperiment dark-focus measures. A second study was conducted in which the accommodative state of 10 subjects was recorded during 4 min of rest and 4 min of performing a backward-counting task. The difference between the mean accommodative state during the last minute of rest and task performance approaches statistical reliability. It was concluded that outward shifts in accommodation may be associated with performance of tasks that involve distant targets (e.g., other aircraft in the surrounding airspace) and/or require complex mental transformations (e.g., predicting future position of an intruder aircraft relative to your own aircraft).

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed1983

Ocular accommodation, personality, and autonomic balance.

The autonomic nervous system is made up of two subsystems: the parasympathetic (PNS) and the sympathetic (SNS). The balance between these systems regulates bodily functions during routine (PNS-dominant) and crisis (SNS-dominant) situations. It may also control visual accommodation: PNS activation for inward focus, and SNS activation for outward focus. Near- and far-sighted persons have been characterized as introverted and extraverted, respectively. These personality characteristics have been linked to autonomic balance: introversion and PNS-dominance, extraversion and SNS-dominance. Because autonomic balance may influence accommodation, the introversion of near-sighted and the extraversion of far-sighted persons may be related to the more general PNS-SNS balance rather than only to the difference in visual functioning. Research relevant to this hypothesis is reviewed.

Accommodation, Ocular↗
PubMed1981

Differences among myopes, emmetropes, and hyperopes.

One hundred fifty-two military recruits were classified as myopes, emmetropes, or hyperopes based on their measured farpoint. Height, weight, education, personality scores from the three scales of the Eysenck Personality Inventory, heart rate variability, autonomic nervous system indices, nearpoint, and dark focus were recorded for each subject. These were compared among groups using one-way analyses of variance and four discriminant analyses. Reliable differences were found among groups in each area referred to above: myopes weight less, completed more grades, had higher heart rate variability, and nearer nearpoints than hyperopes. Furthermore, myopes wee more consistent in their responses on the Eysenck Personality Inventory than emmetropes.

Adolescent↗