blackouts are
periods of amnesia people experience while intoxicated, during which they are still capable of
participating in conversations or behaviors but might not remember.
Alcohol can lead to memory impairment by decreasing the electrical activity of the neurons in your hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for the formation of short-term memories.
"Alcohol can impair all aspects of memory," she said. "But most critically it impairs the transfer of information from short-term memory -- what are we talking about now -- to long-term memory, what did I say to him or her yesterday?"
The researchers found that, after a delay, intoxicated witnesses provided less accurate information than sober witnesses, but were best when recalling information immediately compared to one week later.
In other words, the data suggest that alcohol's impact may be strongest under conditions when memory is already weaker, because of the time delay.
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