Citation

Breckenridge RL, Dodd MO. Percept. Mot. Skills 1991; 72(3): 751-756.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, LA 71497.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

1891310

Abstract

Performance in a driving simulator was evaluated as a function of locus of control, perceived alcohol ingestion (no alcohol versus a no-alcohol placebo), and sex. Using a pretest-posttest design, an analysis of covariance was performed using the pretest performance on a driving simulator as the covariate. There were 10 men and 10 women in each of four groups. As predicted, the external-scoring placebo subjects made more posttest errors than did the internal-scoring placebo group or either of the no-alcohol control groups. This indicated that the external-scoring placebo subjects were more affected by what they expected to happen than their actual physiological state warranted. A difference was also found in which external-scoring women made more errors than did any other group. This was an unexpected finding which, being inconsistent with previous findings involving sex, warrants further research.

Language: en