Morning-after task shows alcohol can aid memory

Drinking alcohol is often associated with forgetfulness but in certain circumstances can help improve memory, a new study claims.

Academics have suggested that those who drank after a period of study were better at recalling what they had learned earlier than people who did not. In the study, 88 social drinkers were given a word-learning task. They were then split in two groups at random and told either to drink as much as they liked – the average was four units – or not to drink at all.

The next day, they all did the same task again – and those who had drunk alcohol remembered more of what they had learned.

Researchers at the University of Exeter stressed this limited positive ef- fect should be considered alongside the well-established negative effects of excessive alcohol on memory.

Professor Celia Morgan said: “Our research not only showed that those who drank alcohol did better when repeating the wordlearning task, but that this effect was stronger among those who drank more.

“The causes of this effect are not fully understood, but the leading explanation is that alcohol blocks the learning of new information and therefore the brain has more resources available to lay down other recently learned information into long-term memory.

“The theory is that the hippocampus – the brain area really important in memory – switches to ‘consolidating’ memories, transferring from short into longer-term memory.”

The study’s participants were 31 men and 57 women, aged 18 to 53.

Curious mix . . . as image shows brain thought process