Office of Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports
FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-82/19
Title and Subtitle: Effects of some motion sickness suppressants on tracking performance during angular accelerations
Report Date: October 1982
Authors: Schroeder DJ, Collins WE, Elan GW
Abstract: The two studies reported here examined the influence of three established antimotion sickness drugs on tracking performance in static (stationary) and dynamic (angular acceleration) conditions and on visual fixation ability during motion.
In Study I, 40 young men were randomly assigned in equal numbers to either a control (lactose placebo), dimenhydrinate (50 mg), promethazine hydrochloride (25 mg), or mixture (25 mg promethazine plus 10 mg d-amphetamine) group.
Study II used 30 new subjects equally divided into control, dimenhydrinate (100 mg), and promethazine (50 mg) groups. Following practice, tests were conducted prior to 1, 2, and 4 hours after drug ingestion. The depressant drugs had little effect on static tracking, but impaired dynamic tracking performance and reduced ability to maintain visual fixation on a localizer/glide slope instrument due to increased ocular nystagmus. The mixture of promethazine and d-amphetamine produced none of these deleterious effects.
Key Words: Performance, Motion sickness, Drugs, Visual-vestibular interactions, Medical certification policy
No. of Pages: 17
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-82/19
Title and Subtitle: Effects of some motion sickness suppressants on tracking performance during angular accelerations
Report Date: October 1982
Authors: Schroeder DJ, Collins WE, Elan GW
Abstract: The two studies reported here examined the influence of three established antimotion sickness drugs on tracking performance in static (stationary) and dynamic (angular acceleration) conditions and on visual fixation ability during motion.
In Study I, 40 young men were randomly assigned in equal numbers to either a control (lactose placebo), dimenhydrinate (50 mg), promethazine hydrochloride (25 mg), or mixture (25 mg promethazine plus 10 mg d-amphetamine) group.
Study II used 30 new subjects equally divided into control, dimenhydrinate (100 mg), and promethazine (50 mg) groups. Following practice, tests were conducted prior to 1, 2, and 4 hours after drug ingestion. The depressant drugs had little effect on static tracking, but impaired dynamic tracking performance and reduced ability to maintain visual fixation on a localizer/glide slope instrument due to increased ocular nystagmus. The mixture of promethazine and d-amphetamine produced none of these deleterious effects.
Key Words: Performance, Motion sickness, Drugs, Visual-vestibular interactions, Medical certification policy
No. of Pages: 17
Last updated: Friday, June 1, 2012