Two Species of Alcoholic "Blackout"
DONALD W. GOODWIN M.D.1
1 Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 63110
Alcohol was administered to two groups of volunteers to study its effects on memory. In one study five alcoholics experienced amnesia after receiving large amounts of alcohol. The amnesia was anterograde, beginning a few minutes after test events occurred and persisting during sobriety on the following day. In another study 48 nonalcoholic young men received smaller amounts of alcohol on one or both of two successive days. Those receiving alcohol on both days recalled test materials better than did those who were intoxicated on the first day but not on the second. The author contrasts this "state-dependent" effect with "amnesia" and explores possible explanations for both.
