For the research, 15 volunteers performed tasks that measured a particular type of depth perception, called motion parallax, before and after drinking alcohol. The study found that when participants were intoxicated, their ability to judge depth was impaired, hampering the ability to gauge distance.

The researchers concluded that hampered depth perception, combined with alcohol's impairment of decision-making and balance, contributes to alcohol-related crashes.

"The current study shows that an important perceptual system for driving is compromised by alcohol intoxication," said Mark Nawrot, who led the study. "This may be one part of a broader, but more poorly understood, set of visual-perception problems caused by ethanol's effect on the eye-movement system."

The study's findings are published in the December 2004 issue of the journal Psychological Science.

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