Blackout (alcohol-related Amnesia) - Alcohol and Long-term Memory

Alcohol and Long-term Memory

Various studies have also proven links between general alcohol consumption and its effects on memory creation. Particularly, these studies have shown that associations made between words and objects when intoxicated are less easily recalled than associations made when not intoxicated. Later blackout-specific studies have indicated that alcohol specifically impairs the brain's ability to take short-term memories and experiences and transfer them to long-term memory.

It is a common misconception that blackouts generally occur only to alcoholics; research suggests that individuals who engage in binge drinking, such as many college students, are often at risk as well. In a 2002 survey of college students by researchers at Duke University Medical Center, 40% of those surveyed who had consumed alcohol recently reported having experienced a blackout within the preceding year.

In a study done a sample of individuals was gathered and divided into groups based on whether they have had a fragmentary blackout within the last year or not and also divided the groups of those who receive alcohol and those who do not. In their beverage challenge participants were given one drink per ten minutes until the target of .08%BAC was achieved. Drinks for the alcohol condition contained a 3:1 ratio of mixer to vodka and after 30 minutes breathalyzer samples were recorded and recorded every 30 minutes thereafter. In the test for narrative recall those who received alcohol and FB+(those who admitted to having a fragmentary blackout within the last year) recalled fewer narrative details at 30-minute delay, but there were no significant interaction effects. The next day participants were called and tested on narrative recall and cued recall and the results were that those who consumed alcohol showed poorer 30-minute delay recall and next-day recall than those who did not consume alcohol, but there were no significant effects on cued recall of details. Their study also revealed that those who were FB+ and consumed alcohol also performed worse on contextual recall than the other participants.

Alcohol impairs delayed and next-day narrative recall, but not next-day cued recall which suggests that information is available in memory but is temporarily inaccessible. Those with a history of fragmentary blackouts also performed worse on delayed recall than those with no prior blackouts. Neuroimaging shows that cued recall and free recall are associated with differential neural activation in distinct neural networks: sensory and conceptual. Together, these findings suggest that alcohol’s differential effects on free and cued recalls may be a result of alcohol altering neural activity in conceptual rather than sensory networks. Prior blackout experience also appear to be related to impaired conceptual networks.