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Friday, December 5, 2008

Science Drink Together, Think Together

Posted by on Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 9:32 AM

A new study finds that the cognitive impairment that comes from consuming alcohol, commonly known as drunkassedness, is lessened or even eliminated when placing drunkasses into groups.

Researchers rounded up a bunch of college students, got half of them drunk and gave half of them a placebo (O'Doul's?), and then had them complete various tasks alone or in groups. The drunkies did quite poorly alone, but when allowed to collaborate with other boozefaces, they did as well as the sober students did, either alone or in groups. It's not clear whether the fact that the sober students had been given fake alcohol had any effect on their mental state.

This is why people do exactly as well at bar trivia as they do on Jeopardy!.

via vsl science

 

Comments (8) RSS

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1
Delusion is best enjoyed alone.
Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale on December 5, 2008 at 9:39 AM
2
Yes, people act drunk if they're given placebo alcohol -- the UW psychology department has a pretty cool bar lab where they do studies like this. There used to be ads in the back of The Stranger looking for participants.

http://dailyuw.com/2008/4/8/smoke-and-mi… (a pretty good Daily article!)
Posted by jrrrl on December 5, 2008 at 9:42 AM
3
I wonder how this correlates to the booze-boost phenomenon, whereby one's performance in seldom-played sports like bowling, pool and darts gets increasingly better with mild to moderate alcohol consumption, peaking and then sharply dropping off after the fourth or fifth drink.
Posted by Christy O on December 5, 2008 at 10:26 AM
4
this study doesn't confirm that drunk groups work better than sober groups nearly as much as it confirms people feel the need (or like to) act drunk when given the chance, and that this over-acting causes worse results than actually being drunk.
Posted by infrequent on December 5, 2008 at 11:24 AM
5
I always consult with a bunch of drunken fools before I make any important life decisions.
Posted by Vince on December 5, 2008 at 12:28 PM
6
@Hecht: Clearly, then, driving-by-committee is the best way home from the bar!
Posted by rob on December 5, 2008 at 12:34 PM
7
I do a lot of research on the effects of alcohol too. But it's mostly done by myself. At home.
Posted by Urgutha Forka on December 5, 2008 at 12:47 PM
8
Alcohol definitely improves my pool and bowling games.
Posted by Greg on December 5, 2008 at 5:07 PM

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