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The effects of experimentally induced respiratory virus infections on performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

A. P. Smith ,
D. A. J. Tyrrell ,
W. Al-Nakib ,
K. B. Coyle ,
C. B. Donovan ,
P. G. Higgins  and
J. S. Willman
A. P. Smith*
Affiliation:
MRC Perceptual and Cognitive Performance Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton and MRC Common Cold Unit, Salisbury, UK and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA
D. A. J. Tyrrell
Affiliation:
MRC Perceptual and Cognitive Performance Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton and MRC Common Cold Unit, Salisbury, UK and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA
W. Al-Nakib
Affiliation:
MRC Perceptual and Cognitive Performance Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton and MRC Common Cold Unit, Salisbury, UK and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA
K. B. Coyle
Affiliation:
MRC Perceptual and Cognitive Performance Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton and MRC Common Cold Unit, Salisbury, UK and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA
C. B. Donovan
Affiliation:
MRC Perceptual and Cognitive Performance Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton and MRC Common Cold Unit, Salisbury, UK and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA
P. G. Higgins
Affiliation:
MRC Perceptual and Cognitive Performance Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton and MRC Common Cold Unit, Salisbury, UK and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA
J. S. Willman
Affiliation:
MRC Perceptual and Cognitive Performance Unit, University of Sussex, Brighton and MRC Common Cold Unit, Salisbury, UK and University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr A. P. Smith, MRC Perceptual and Cognitive Performance Unit, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QG.
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Synopsis

Studies of experimentally induced respiratory infections and illnesses showed that influenza impaired performance on a visual search task but had no effect on a simple motor task, whereas colds impaired the motor task but not the search task. The effect of influenza on the search task was observed in both volunteers with significant clinical symptoms and volunteers who were shown, by virological techniques, to be infected but who had no significant clinical illness. Performance was also impaired during the incubation period of this illness, which confirms that subclinical influenza virus infections can have behavioural effects. In contrast to influenza, the effects of colds were restricted to volunteers who had significant clinical symptoms, and the impairments in performance were observed only when the symptoms were apparent.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 1988 , pp. 65 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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