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Alcohol boosts recall of earlier learning, study says

Researchers stress that the limited positive effect should be weighed against the well-established negative effects of excessive alcohol consumption.

By Amy Wallace
A recent study found alcohol may boost recall of earlier learning. Photo by Billie Jean Shaw/UPI
A recent study found alcohol may boost recall of earlier learning. Photo by Billie Jean Shaw/UPI

July 24 (UPI) -- A recent study at the University of Exeter found drinking alcohol may improve memory information learned prior to an episode of drinking.

Researchers gave 88 social drinkers a word-learning task after being divided into two groups, the first group were allowed to drink as much as they wanted and the second group were told not to drink at all.

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Participants repeated the same task the next day and participants who drank alcohol remembered more of what they learned than participants who did not drink alcohol.

"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," Professor Celia Morgan, of the University of Exeter, said in a press release.

The study, published July 24 in Scientific Reports, was the first to test the effect of alcohol on memory in a natural setting instead of a laboratory setting.

"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," Morgan said.

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"The theory is that the hippocampus -- the brain area really important in memory -- switches to 'consolidating' memories, transferring from short into longer-term memory."

Researchers stress that the limited positive effect should be weighed against the well-established negative effects of excessive alcohol consumption on memory and mental and physical health.

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