Alcohol interferes with the ability to form new memories.  Large amounts of alcohol, particularly if consumed rapidly, can produce partial (i.e., fragmentary) or complete (i.e., en bloc) blackouts, which are periods of memory loss for events that transpired while a person was drinking.  Blackouts have long been associated with alcoholism.  However, recent studies (e.g., White et al., 2002; White et al., in press 2004; White, in press 2004) indicate that blackouts are much more common among social drinkers, including college drinkers, than was previously assumed.  While often confused with passing out, or losing consciousness after excessive drinking, blackouts do not involve a loss of consciousness.  Indeed, individuals can engage in a wide range of goal-directed, voluntary, often complicated behaviors during blackouts -- from driving cars to having sexual intercourse (White et al., 2002).  Alcohol has only a minimal impact on the ability to remember information learned before becoming intoxicated or on keeping information active in memory for short periods of time.  For these reasons, outside observers are often unaware of the individual's true level of intoxication.  The history and current status of research regarding alcohol-induced blackouts, including knowledge of the brain mechanisms involved, will be reviewed below.

Alcohol and memory: Blackouts

        Blackouts represent episodes of  amnesia during which subjects are capable of participating even in salient, emotionally charged events-as well as more mundane events-that they later cannot remember (Goodwin 1995). Like milder alcohol-induced memory impairments, these periods of amnesia are anterograde , meaning that alcohol impairs the ability to form new memories while intoxicated, but does not erase memories that were formed prior to becoming intoxicated.

        In 1969, Goodwin and colleagues published two of the most influential studies in the literature on blackouts (Goodwin et al. 1969a,b). Based on interviews with 100 hospitalized alcoholics, 64 of whom had a history of blackouts, the authors posited the existence of two qualitatively different types of blackouts. People experiencing the first type, en bloc blackouts, are unable to recall any details whatsoever from events that occurred while they were intoxicated, despite all efforts by the drinkers or others to cue recall. Referring back to our general model of memory formation, it is as if the process of transferring information from short-term to long-term storage has been completely blocked. En bloc memory impairments tend to have a distinct onset. It is usually less clear when these blackouts end because people typically fall asleep before they are over. Interestingly, even in the midst of an en bloc blackout, people appear able to keep information active in short-term memory for at least a few seconds. As a result, they can often carry on conversations, drive automobiles, and engage in other complicated behaviors. Information pertaining to these events is simply not transferred into long-term storage. Ryback (1970) said that intoxicated subjects in one of his studies "could carry on conversations during the amnesic state, but could not remember what they said or did 5 minutes earlier. Their immediate and remote memory were intact" (p. 1003). Similarly, in his study of memory impairments in intoxicated alcoholics, Goodwin (1970) reported that subjects who experienced blackouts for testing sessions showed intact memory for up to two minutes while the sessions were taking place.

      The second type of blackouts, fragmentary blackouts, as the name suggests, involve partial blockade of memory formation for events that occurred while a person was intoxicated. Goodwin and colleagues(1969a) reported that subjects experiencing fragmentary blackouts often become aware that they are missing pieces of events only after being reminded that the events occurred.  Interestingly, these reminders trigger at least some recall of the initially missing  information. Research suggests that fragmentary blackouts are far more common than those of the en bloc variety (White et al., in press; Hartzler and Fromme, 2003; Goodwin et al., 1969b).

i'm leaving work at 12 noon today  BUT it's for a dentist appointment  i'm absolutely horrified of the dentist. i mean, who isn't - but i'm worse than normal. when my dad managed to drag me to the dentist's office when i was little, i used to run outside and just keep on running the minute he let go of my hand. and then when i got older, i would always hide my toothache and only go when it became absolutely necessary. and i'm afraid i've reached that point again. i can't sleep at nite cuz of the pain, and i could only chew with one side of my mouth. i had to suck on my bagel this morning cuz it was too hard to chew.

i guess what scares me to death about the dentist is the cold needle in my gums, the fact that i have my mouth wide open which makes me feel so exposed and vulnerable, and how i'm fully awake throughout the whole process... but above all, it's the constant drilling noise that's too close to my brain.

on a side note, do you guys have a cute dentist? mine is young but not cute. which is good, cuz i don't wanna be drooling in front of a cute guy. even with the drool suction tube attached, u still drool a little bit... and i'm sure it ain't pretty. i wonder how dentists ever kiss, fully knowing how dirty a human mouth is... ok random thoughts... just trying to keep my mind off the hour of doom that's approaching...

It took 3 1/2 hrs to get to work today... i don't even know wat happened... all i know is, it took 2 hrs to get from one exit to another, then when i finally got to the next exit, the highway was closed down, so i had to go on local roads and find my way to another highway... and then once i got to the other highway, there was more traffic. throughout the whole ordeal, i listened to classical music to calm me down and it worked for a little bit but then after a while i started screaming like a madwoman... now my head, ears, eyes, arms, pretty much everything hurts as a result of the 3 1/2 hrs of stress and torture.

I need to either look for a job in the city so i can take the subway to work, or move to connecticut. anyone looking or know of someone that's looking for a roomie in stamford?

The coffee machine on my floor is broken and i don't wanna walk to another floor to get my coffee... angela without morning coffee = ! i guess i'm addicted to caffeine. it's not that i like the taste (unless it's starbucks or dunkin donuts) but i just crave it, ya kno?

Can't believe it's friday. it feels like a thurs. short work weeks always throw me off. i'm glad today is almost over cuz i'm freakin bored out of my mind at work. lots and lots to do, but still bored... makes sense? 

This is from one of the work email forwards. it's kinda funny, but i guess only corporate slaves like myself can appreciate the humor.