Partial memory blackouts after drinking binges could contribute to future alcoholism, say researchers, because drinkers may fill in the blanks with rosy memories.
Experiments involving moderate alcohol intake showed that drinkers who had previously suffered partial memory loss had poorer memories than drinkers who had not. Questionnaires also revealed that the memory loss drinkers also had more optimistic attitudes about the effect alcohol had upon them.
These results, and others from the same study, led the scientists at the University of Texas in Austin to conclude that drinkers experiencing 鈥渇ragmentary blackouts鈥� are more likely to misremember drinking experiences and then fill in the gaps with positive beliefs. And this would increase the likelihood of them drinking heavily in the future, the researchers say.
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Psychologist William Corbin, one of the team, notes that unlike total blackouts, drinkers experiencing fragmentary blackouts could remember some things when prompted by cues. He told New Scientist that these people鈥檚 beliefs about their lost time are 鈥渦nrealistically positive鈥�. For example, they believe alcohol makes them more sociable, sexually attractive or assertive, he says.
Corbin believes blackouts should be given more weight as an early warning sign of future alcohol problems. 鈥淚t could identify people more at risk.鈥�
Non-alcoholic placebo
The team examined 108 college students who were weekly binge drinkers. Half had experienced fragmentary blackouts (FB) in the previous year, half had not.
When given three alcoholic drinks, FB students showed worse memory both during and just after intoxication. However, there was no difference when the drinks were non-alcoholic placebos.
鈥淚n the absence of alcohol, the memory ability of those who report fragmentary blackouts does not appear to be any different from those who do not experience these phenomena,鈥� says Kim Fromme, a psychologist at the University of Texas. 鈥淵et when they drink alcohol, people who experience fragmentary blackouts show poorer memory performance.鈥�
Fromme adds: 鈥淚f you already believe alcohol has primarily positive effects, and you cannot recall what happened after a drinking episode, you are likely to assume that the outcome was positive.鈥�
鈥淲e are very worried about binge drinking,鈥� says Anne Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the UK鈥檚 Alcohol Concern. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an assumption that the harmful effects are only immediate, but some studies are beginning to suggest that regular binge drinking can have long term health effects.鈥�
One adult in 13 is dependent on alcohol and 33,000 people die each year due to alcohol-related incidents or associated health problems according to UK government statistics.
Journal reference: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (vol 27, p 628)