Voluntary eye movements and alcohol

Abstract

Human voluntary horizontal eye-movements are studied prior and subsequent to the ingestion of alcohol. Such movements are important, especially during reading and driving. Infrared monitoring techniques were employed to record eye movements and eye-movement latency histograms were tabulated. Blood alcohol levels were continually monitored. Alcohol increases eye-movement latency but the maximum latency occurred in most cases at different elapsed times from the time of maximum blood alcohol level. In general, a roughly 20% increase in latency occurs subsequent to alcohol. Whether this added delay is a result of a general depression of the oculomotor system or a specific increase in some oculomotor computing element is unresolved. Within the limits of our experimentation, there was no difference between latency change observed in moderate and heavy drinkers.