Taken from the legendary BBC. 'Fake alcohol' can make you tipsy By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor Simply the belief that you are drinking alcohol can impair judgement and dent memory, say researchers. According to Seema Assefi and Maryanne Garry, two psychologists at Victoria University in New Zealand, memory can be affected by an alcohol placebo. Tests showed that participants in an experiment who were told they were drinking vodka, but were not, were more swayed by misleading information and more certain their memory was correct than those who were told they were drinking tonic water. Dr Garry says the research has given new insights into how human memory works and how both social and non-social influences can affect a person's recall of events. "What we have done is that we have made people's memory worse by telling them that they were intoxicated even though they had drunken nothing stronger than plain flat tonic water with limes," says Dr Garry. Thinking yourself tipsy For the study, 148 students were split into two groups, half being told they were getting vodka and tonic and the rest told they were getting just tonic. In reality all were getting just plain tonic. We found people who thought they were intoxicated were more suggestible and made worse eyewitnesses compared to those who thought they were sober Seema Assefi The research was carried out in a bar-like room equipped with bartenders, vodka bottles, tonic bottles, and glasses. Flat tonic water was poured from sealed vodka bottles to appear genuine. The deception was completed by rimming glasses with limes dunked in vodka. After consuming their drinks the students watched a sequence of slides depicting a crime. They also read a summary of the crime that contained misleading information. "We found people who thought they were intoxicated were more suggestible and made worse eyewitnesses compared to those who thought they were sober," Seema Assefi says. "In fact the 'vodka and tonic' students acted drunk, some even showing physical signs of intoxication," she adds. When told, the sober students reacted with disbelief. "When students were told the true nature of the experiment at the completion of the study, many were amazed that they had only received plain tonic, insisting that they had felt drunk at the time," she comments. Dr Garry concludes: "It showed that even thinking you've been drinking affects your behaviour." "Even on plain tonic water, the male students flirted with Seema as she conducted the experiment and the girls giggled a lot." The serious point behind the research is that it demonstrates that memory is not just about filing away information like a computer does. It is what we use to understand and remember events in a social setting, such as witnessing a crime. The research is published in Psychological Science, published by the American Psychological Association. ~~~~~~~~~~~ I could see this being used as an excuse... "Honestly Officer, I didn't mean to throw bricks at the glass house, I just thought I was drunk because my friend said Sprite was really 110 proof vodka".
That is hilarious. I always knew that you could make up being drunk. Like somebody pretending to be drunk after like two beers. Carry on.
Reminds me of the time in college when my friend brought his own bottle of vodka to make drinks from to a party. After his first couple of drinks, we poured the rest out and replaced it with water. We watched him make his next drink trying not to laugh. He kept pouring more "vodka" in and tasting it, then pouring more in etc. We still tease him about that one.
Well if it works, it could be a lot cheaper than beer. Also, is there a way to have your dates conform to this way of thinking?
Interesting... I tihnk my brother participated in this, or if not this, than something similar. He was selected (underage by a year, mind you) to be in this type of experiment at his college, Syracuse Univ. Well, he was in a room and whoever it was mixed stuff with the 'vodka', so you couldn't tell if it was water, vodka, or neither. He drank it, and certainly thought he was drunk, but in reality, he wasn't. So I guess it does matter if you know what you're drinking or not. I'll have to send him this...
It actually makes sense. Your body associates senses with a reaction. There are some sexual addicts that used the computer to get off so much they began getting orgasms just from touching a mouse. Sexual Addiction has no science to back it up. But many other addictions do. Alcohol is just one of them. Sight is a sense that can cause a reaction physically.
Back when I lived in Austin, my stoner buddies & I threw a party & decided it would be a hoot to get kegs of non-alcoholic beer. Needless to say, there were quite a few people (non-inhalers), pretty much split 50-50 between girls & guys, acting like they were drunk - staggering, sluring words, getting all drunk-friendly, etc.... It was a most entertaining evening.
