Effects of transdermal scopolamine upon psychological test performance at sea

Abstract

The effects of transdermal scopolamine upon objective psychological performance assessments and self reports of feeling states, were investigated with volunteer subjects at sea. Scopolamine and placebo patches were administered on consecutive days in a counterbalanced order. Psychological performance was assessed 24 h following each transdermal patch. Choice reaction time and code substitution performance levels were not significantly changed, but letter cancellation errors were significantly more frequent following transdermal scopolamine. Transdermal scopolamine caused significantly more reports of dry mouth. More subjects were also unable to undertake the performance tests following scopolamine than placebo, due to difficulties in focusing on the test materials. However despite deleterious side effects with some personnel, others responded positively to the scopolamine patch. As noted by other workers, responses to the transdermal scopolamine patch seem to be quite variable.