Why drunks forget the embarrassing things they do

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent

Research at the University of Sussex has found that alcohol influences the brain's ability to form memories, making memories before a drink stronger and memories of things that happen while under the influence weaker.

It means that while a drinker may remember the happy events such as socialising with friends at the start of a drinking session, they are less able to recall the negative effects that happen later in the night.

Professor Theodora Duka, from the department of experimental psychology at the University of Sussex, said: "This bias towards positive memories means that people are more likely to drink heavily the next time they go out because they only remember the good memories about the last time.

"It is not exactly clear how alcohol changes the way memories are made, but it could be altering the neurotransmitters that form memories."

Professor Duka, who was speaking at the British Association for the Advancement of Science Festival, explained she had compared the ability of volunteers to recall a series of images when they had been given either an alcoholic drink or a non-alcoholic drink.

She found that alcohol increased the memory for images seen before they had a drink and impaired memory for the images seen after the administration.

They were also more likely to remember images seen before a drink if they triggered strong emotions such as joy, while less likely to remember emotional images seen after taking a drink.

Dr Matt Field, a lecturer in psychology at Liverpool University, said that heavy alcohol consumption also caused long-term changes in brain function that left young people more prone to impulsive and risky behaviour even when sober.

He said: "Heavy drinking also leaves adolescents more sensitive to alcohol cues, so they want to drink more."

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