REAL LIFE NEWS: SEE, I TOLD YOU ALCOHOL WAS BAD FOR YOU!
by Hazed
It turns out that drinking to forget works really, really well because even a small amount of alcohol can impair your memory.
REM sleep is the phase when dreams occur, and it’s when memories get written into the mind’s storage. The problem with drinking is that alcohol blocks REM sleep, and as a result drinking can make you forget new information. What’s more, the forgetfulness can happen even if the drinking happens days after the learning took place.
Professor Matthew Walker from the University of California, Berkeley, has a new book out called Why We Sleep, and in it he describes a study from 2003 which tested the effect of alcohol on learning. Ok, this isn’t new information and clearly the Prof wants to push his new book, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
So back in 2003 a Canadian researcher invited 15 students into his lab. All of them were taught a new type of grammar system (this was while they were sober). Then they were put into three groups: one were given a cocktail of orange juice with three ounces of vodka on the same night they learned the task; another group had orange juice that night but drank the cocktail two days later; the third group had just orange juice on both nights.
A few days later, when they were all sober, they were tested again. Those that drank the alcohol on the day of learning, forgot half of what they had learned – no surprises there. But the participants who had the vodka two days later also forgot 40% of what they had learned.
Now, this is a very small study, and there are a lot of other factors that would need to be taken into account that might have affected the students’ memory, but still, it’s interesting. So if you’re swotting up for an exam, maybe lay off the booze until after the tests are over!
