FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
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Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-99/20

Title and Subtitle: Effects of Antihistamine, Age, and Gender on Task Performance

Report Date: June 1999

Authors: Gilliland, K., Schlegel, R.E., and Nesthus, T.E.

Abstract: This investigation was designed to study the effects of the antihistamine, chlorpheniramine maleate, as well as the influence of age and gender, singly and in combination with chlorpheniramine maleate, on selected types of performance tasks. It was hypothesized that chlorpheniramine maleate would have a negative effect on a wide range of task performance and self-report measures of mood and performance capability, much as it did in previous research (Gilliland, Schlegel, & Nesthus, 1997). Increasing age was hypothesized to have a negative effect on performance, especially on dual tasks and those tasks that emphasized tracking or speeded responses. If gender differences emerged, it was hypothesized that men may have some advantage on tracking or speeded tasks, whereas women may have some advantage on verbal or memory-based tasks.

A total of 96 individuals representing two groups of women (25-30 years and 40-45 years of age) and three groups of men (25-30 years, 40-45 years, and 50-55 years of age) served as participants in the study. Participants were trained extensively and then performed a battery of performance tasks and provided self-report measures both prior to and following randomly presented, double-blind placebo and drug (4 mg chlorpheniramine maleate) conditions conducted on two consecutive days.

The results of this study yielded no significant drug main effects for the administration of chlorpheniramine maleate on any dependent measure for any performance task. However, several interactions of age and gender with chlorpheniramine maleate provided strong evidence that chlorpheniramine maleate may well have negative effects on a wide variety of performance tasks, but these effects may be complex interactive ones, at least at the dosage level used in this study. There was very strong evidence from self-report measures that participants were subjectively aware of the effects of the antihistamine. Not unlike previous research, the highly selected and well motivated participants in this study may have recruited effort to overcome the antihistamine effects on performance.

Key Words: Antihistimines, Age, Gender, Cognitive Task Performance, Over-the-Counter Medications

No. of Pages: 72