It is a well-known fact that people under the influence of alcohol sometimes tend to do things that they may not normally do, or to do things that they potentially may regret on a later date. College students are particularly good examples of this type of behavior that may be deemed “silly” or “inappropriate,” to put it gently.
According to a study conducted at the University of Missouri College of Arts, to claim “I was drunk” is not a valid excuse for one’s mischievous behavior conducted while intoxicated.
The result of the study states that while inhibitions may be lowered while drinking, alcohol is still not to blame for every dumb thing that one may do. He or she consciously chooses to behave as they do; Budweiser is not at fault.
In order to get a better understanding of this concept, study’s author Dr. Bruce Bartholow questioned, “Does the strength of the ERN – the error-related negativity ‘alarm signal’ set off in the brain by mistakes – change with the presence of alcohol?” In other words, he set out to understand whether consuming alcohol reduces awareness or stress, therefore making it easier for people to do things they would not normally do.
Using this question as the basis of his study, Bartholow split up his volunteer subjects in to three groups. He gave two of the groups a placebo drink, and one group an alcoholic vodka tonic. After consuming said drinks, all groups were required to complete a task on a computer. As a result, he discovered that the non-placebo group did not care as much as the other groups when they had errors, and they were also in a better mood throughout the whole experiment. According to Bartholow, “A less negative mood equaled a less severe ERN.”
Those that drink alcohol are in a pleasant frame of mind because of the affects alcohol triggers on the brain, and when one is happy, he or she is less likely to care as much about the results of his or her actions. Bartholow notes that “it turns out we still know we are making mistakes when intoxicated. We just don’t care as much.”
Other possible experiments that would be interesting to try based on the results of Bartholow’s test could be to see if people can be motivated to care about mistakes when intoxicated. Now that it has been proven that the drinker is aware of their drunken actions, it would be interesting to note how one is moved to do something crazy, and not to just be aware that they are doing it. Another potential experiment could be to detect parts of the brain where people attempt to correct their mistakes while intoxicated, if they even try to correct them. Perhaps because their ERNs are lower, they will not be motivated to correct their mistakes.
Contrary to what Jamie Foxx and T-Pain claim, blaming it on the booze is just not an acceptable answer for say, getting a dragon tattoo, or jumping into a pool naked. Let it be known that Sally is perfectly aware that she asked the hot model Kevin out on a date, and it was not just because of her third glass of Chardonnay.