"In the lab, participants saw a sequence of 15 object images-things like an umbrella and a football. However, halfway through the presentation, some people saw a picture of a whiskey bottle, and others saw a soda bottle. For the heavier drinkers, a striking pattern emerged. They remembered the alcohol image (the whiskey bottle) better than the non-alcohol image (the soda)."
"They remembered the alcohol image (the whiskey bottle) better than the non-alcohol image (the soda). However, they were more likely to forget the objects that came right after the whiskey bottle. The lighter drinkers did not show either of these effects. So, for high drinkers, just seeing alcohol had an effect: better memory for the booze, but amnesia for whatever came after it."
A study tested whether mere exposure to alcohol images affects memory in heavier versus lighter drinkers. College students participated while sober. High drinkers averaged about two drinks per day; low drinkers averaged less than two per month. Participants viewed a sequence of 15 everyday object images, with either a whiskey bottle or a soda bottle appearing halfway through. Later recall showed that heavier drinkers remembered the alcohol image more strongly but were more likely to forget items presented immediately after it. Lighter drinkers showed no such effects. The pattern is explained by attention narrowing, where salient stimuli capture attention and impair subsequent encoding.
Read at Psychology Today
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