Science
After a hard night out, you might need a few clues to reconstruct the full picture of what happened the day before. New research shows that some people are more sensitive than others when it comes to disconnecting or losing memory when exposed to excessive amounts of alcohol.
The differences between these two types of people are clearly visible on brain scans. Thus, the brains of people who are prone to “turning off” memory show strong activity in areas responsible for memory and attention immediately after taking even a small dose of alcohol, which is not the case another type of person.
“This is because their brain just conducts information in a different way. Or, these differences are due to differences in dopamine levels,” says study lead researcher Reagan Wetherill, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
The researchers studied what is technically called “fragmentary alcohol blackout,” that is, periods when a person experiences partial memory loss and an inability to recreate the picture due to a certain dose of alcohol taken. “However, a person can remember what happened if you tell them about several fragments. A person is conscious and does things, however, his brain is not necessarily “connected to this work”, so he does not remember all the information, as well as what happened,” says Weseril.
These shutdowns can also have negative consequences, for example, a person may not remember their risky sexual behavior or driving while intoxicated. The researchers did not study periods of complete shutdown, however, it is logical that the more alcohol you drink, the greater the brain shutdown.
Experts followed 24 students who usually had 2-3 night parties a week, while drinking about five doses of alcohol per party, which is considered by academics drunkenness. Experts divided the participants into two groups: those who had memory lapses and those who had memory problems. Moreover, scientists scanned the volunteers' brains while they were performing a specific memory test task. The scans were performed twice: when the person was sober and after he had already drunk enough.
When sober, the brains of participants in both groups acted in much the same way. After students took even a small dose of alcohol (two glasses of beer or a glass of wine), scientists were already able to trace some differences. For example, those who were prone to memory loss showed a decrease in activity in the parts of the brain responsible for turning events into memories, as well as in those responsible for attention and cognitive functions.
The day after the memory test, the researchers again invited their “wards” for a control test. None of the volunteers reported fragmented testing memories, despite the fact that brain scans showed different results. This discrepancy suggests that “brain darkening” works differently, even before “forgetfulness begins.”
“This may be due to the fact that some people's brain works in a certain way, but if they are cognitively stressed while drinking alcohol, it's just overloaded, and that's why it ceases to work effectively.”