An Investigation into the Effects of Hangover on Memory

Indianapolis, IN

Alcohol use is common in the US, and the acute and chronic effects of alcohol on memory have received considerable attention. However, the residual effects of alcohol on memory, during alcohol hangover, have received little attention to date. This study attempts to identify possible memory deficits during the alcohol hangover state the morning after a normal night's drinking. This study utilized a counterbalanced design where subjects participated the morning after alcohol consumption and again the following day. Participants were college-aged men who categorize themselves as social drinkers. In the first day of testing, the participants learned a set of 50 semantically unrelated word pairs, participated in a virtual maze task to assess the use of declarative and nondeclarative memory strategies, and were then asked to recall a list of word pairs. The participants were then asked to recall the word pairs and navigation strategy 24 hours later to test consolidation. Any deficits found between the control group and the alcohol groups are thought to be the result of the carryover effects alcohol has on hippocampal based memory consolidation, and data collection is ongoing.