A study conducted by the University of Exeter has shown that alcohol can enhance your memory.
While events that take place while intoxicated might later prove difficult to remember, the study showed that booze can actually improve memories of events that take place before drinking commences.
To conduct the research, 88 casual drinkers were brought together and asked to complete a word-learning task.
Once the task had been completed the volunteers were split into two groups. One group was told to drink as much alcohol as they liked, while the other group was instructed not to drink any alcohol at all.
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The next day, all volunteers were asked to reattempt the word-learning test. Astonishingly, those who had been drinking the night before were able to recall more of what they had learned previously.
While the reasons behind this are still unclear, the researchers suggest it is because alcohol blocks new incoming information, including misinformation, so it is less likely to have a negative impact on recollection of previous events.
Professor Celia Morgan, leading the experiment, said: "Our research not only showed that those who drank alcohol did better when repeating the word-learning 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."
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This study wasn't the first of its kind, but previously all research into alcohol's ability to enhance memory in certain circumstances had been carried out in scientific conditions. The University of Exeter study aimed to test the theory in naturalistic settings.
There was a second test in the study too, which involved looking at images on a screen. As with the initial test, the task was completed again the following day after alcohol had been consumed, but this time the results did not show any significant differences.
The complete paper, 'Improved memory for information learnt before alcohol use in social drinkers tested in a naturalistic setting', is published in the journal Scientific Reports.
While this particular study shows a positive effect of alcohol on the brain, researchers were keen to stress that the findings should be considered alongside the well-established negative effects that drinking alcohol can have on the brain.
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Source: Evening Standard