The Acute Effects of Amphetamines on Driving Cognition and the SFSTs (Paperback)

Recently there has been an increase in awareness of the role of drugs other than alcohol in the causation of road accidents and deaths. One class of drugs reported to be of most concern is the amphetamines. The epidemiological driving literature highlights a possible association between amphetamine use and road crashes. However, since the cognitive research generally indicates cognitive enhancing properties following amphetamine consumption, it remains unclear how amphetamines may be related to adverse driving. The present work was designed to explore this issue. Furthermore, the efficacy of the SFSTs in identifying impairment associated with amphetamine use, and the accuracy of using the SFSTs to detect driving impairment associated with amphetamine use, was evaluated. To address these questions, the present work examined the effects of a single acute therapeutic dose of various amphetamine preparations, on simulated driving performance, driving-related cognitive processes (assessed using standard cognitive tasks and brain imaging techniques, namely EEG), and performance on the SFSTs, in healthy, stimulant- using, non-fatigued adults.