What Happened? Alcohol, Memory Blackouts, and the Brain

摘要: Alcohol primarily interferes with the ability to form new long-term memories, leaving intact previously established memories and keep information active in memory for brief periods. As amount of alcohol consumed increases, so does magnitude impairments. Large amounts alcohol, particularly if rapidly, can produce partial (i.e., fragmentary) or complete en bloc) blackouts, which are periods loss events that transpired while a person was drinking. Blackouts much more common among social drinkers--including college drinkers--than assumed, have been found encompass ranging from conversations intercourse. Mechanisms underlying alcohol-induced impairments include disruption activity hippocampus, brain region plays central role formation autobiographical memories.