Interesting aside: for most people, drinking enough to block memory formation completely (alcoholic blackouts) would mean they’re so intoxicated they can barely speak or stand. Alcoholics, however, are different. They’ve been drinking a lot for a long time, so much so that their bodies and brains have actually adapted to deal with, and even require, a regular alcohol intake, so they can remain upright and coherent (more or less) despite consuming way more alcohol than your average person could withstand (see Chapter 8).
However, the alcohol they’ve consumed still has an effect on the memory system, and if there’s enough sloshing around in their heads it can cause a full “shutdown” of memory formation while they’re still talking and behaving normally thanks to their tolerance. They don’t show any outward signs of problems, but ten minutes later, they’ve no memory of what they’ve been saying or doing. It’s as though they stepped away from the controls of a video game and someone else took over; it looked the same to anyone watching the game, but the original player has no idea what’s been happening while they were in the bathroom.18
Yes, alcohol disrupts the memory system. But, in very specific circumstances, it can actually help recall. This is the phenomenon known as state-specific recall.
We’ve covered already how the external context can help you recall a memory; you’re better able to recall it if you are in the same environment where the memory was acquired. But, and here’s the clever bit, this also applies to the internal context, or “state,” hence state-dependent recall.19 To put it simply, substances such as alcohol or stimulants or anything that alters brain activity bring about a specific neurological state. When the brain is suddenly having to deal with a disruptive substance washing around everywhere, this does not go unnoticed, any more than you wouldn’t notice that your bedroom was suddenly full of smoke.
This can also apply to mood; if you learn something while in a bad mood, you’re more likely to recall it later if you’re in a bad mood again. It’s a massive oversimplification to describe moods and mood disorders as “chemical imbalances” in the brain (despite many who do just that) but the overall levels of chemical and electrochemical activity that result in and from a specific mood is something the brain can recognize, and does. Thus, the context inside your head is potentially just as useful as the one outside your head when it comes to triggering memories.
Alcohol does disrupt memories, but only after a certain point; it’s perfectly possible to have the pleasant buzz of a few beers or glasses of wine and still remember everything the next day. But if you were to be told some interesting gossip or useful information after a couple of glasses of wine, your brain would encode your slightly intoxicated state as part of the memory, so would be better able to retrieve this memory if you were to have another couple of glasses of wine (on a different night, not right after the first two). In this scenario, a glass of wine can indeed improve your memory.
Please don’t take this as a scientific endorsement for drinking heavily when studying for exams or tests. Turning up drunk for a test will be problematic enough to cancel out any minor memory advantages this provides you with, especially if it’s a driving test.
But there is still some hope for desperate students: caffeine affects the brain and produces a specific internal state that can help trigger memories, and a lot of students pull caffeine-fueled all-nighters when cramming for exams, so if you attend the exams similarly stimulated by excessive caffeine then it could well help with remembering some of the more important details from your notes.
It’s not exactly irrefutable evidence, but I did once (unknowingly) employ this tactic in college, where I stayed up all night revising for an exam I was particularly worried about. A lot of coffee kept me going and I indulged in an extra-large mug right before the exam, to ensure I stayed conscious throughout. I ended up getting 73 percent on the exam, one of the highest grades in my class.
I wouldn’t recommend this approach. Yes, I got a good grade, but I also desperately needed the bathroom the whole time, called the professor “Dad” when I asked for more paper, and on the way home got into a furious argument. With a pigeon.
Of course I remember it, it was my idea!
(The ego-bias of our memory systems)
Thus far, we’ve covered how the brain processes memory, and how it isn’t exactly straightforward/efficient/consistent. Actually, there are numerous ways in which the brain’s memory system leaves a lot to be desired, but at least you end up with access to reliable, accurate information, safely stored in your head for future use.
It would be lovely if that was true, wouldn’t it? Sadly, the words “reliable” and “accurate” can rarely be applied to the workings of the brain, particularly for memory. The memories retrieved by the brain are sometimes comparable to a hairball coughed up by a cat, the product of a lot of alarming internal mangling.
Rather than a static record of information or events like pages in a book, our memories are regularly tweaked and modified to suit whatever the brain interprets as our needs (however wrong that may be). Surprisingly, memory is quite plastic (meaning flexible, malleable, not rigid) and can be altered, suppressed or misattributed in numerous ways. This is known as a memory bias. And memory bias is often driven by ego.
Obviously, some people have huge egos. They can be very memorable themselves, if just for the ways they inspire average people to fantasize many elaborate ways of killing them. But even though most people don’t have a dreadful ego, they do still have an ego, which influences the nature and detail of the memories they recall. Why?
The tone of this book thus far has referred to “the brain” as if it’s a separate self-contained entity, an approach used by most books or articles about the brain, and one that makes logical sense. If you want to provide a scientific analysis of something, then it’s necessary to be as objective and rational as possible, and treat the brain as just another organ, like the heart or liver.