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Penn research hints at brain differences between drinkers who black out and those who don't

Thursday, March 22, 2012

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A study out of the University of Pennsylvania suggests that some people are more susceptible than others to losing memory while drinking alcohol, LiveScience reports.

The day after the drunken memory trial, the researchers called to check in on their subjects. None of the participants reported having fragmented memories of the test while it was happening, even though brain scans would beg to differ; the mismatch suggests the "blackout brain" was acting differently even before it started forgetting.

"What could be happening is that some individuals have a brain which can handle or compensate to a certain point but if you put a cognitive load on it, like alcohol, it just gets overloaded," (scientist Reagan) Wetherill said. "Things just aren't working as efficiently."

Original source: LiveScience
Read the full story here.

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