2 replies to this topic

[Blackkzeus]

Can anybody explain why I'm so much more verbally fluent when I've had a few beers? I usually struggle with word recall and can't find the right words to express my thoughts but that completely goes away when I'm drunk. The words just flow out my mouth without me having to think about them. The alcohol doesn't affect my cognition though, I don't feel any smarter after a few beers.

[Blackkzeus]

No ideas? May it be the large increase in Gaba?

[gamesguru]

I couldn't find anything on verbal fluency or molecular mechanisms, but hopefully a few leads, or something entertaining at least?

 

Ethanol enhancement of Pavlovian conditioning.[!]
Rabbits were tested for Pavlovian conditioning and extinction of eye blink and heart rate responses, following water or various doses of ethanol (375-1,500 mg/kg, po). The highest dose suppressed both eye blink and heart rate conditioning during training, whereas the lowest dose enhanced heart rate responses during training and increased eye blink responses during later extinction in a symmetrically state-dependent manner. An intermediate dose (750 mg/kg) administered during training enhanced heart rate responses and suppressed eye blink responses but increased eye blink responses during later extinction following either ethanol or water. Ethanol treatments also suppressed unconditioned responses to shock and increased locomotor activity in rabbits; however, these effects differed qualitatively from those that occurred during Pavlovian training and extinction. These results suggest that very low doses of ethanol can enhance the ability of stimuli to elicit Pavlovian conditioned reflexes and impair the ability to adaptively modify these reflexes when stimulus contingencies later change.

Acute Ethanol Has Biphasic Effects on Short- and Long-Term Memory in Both Foreground and Background Contextual Fear Conditioning in C57BL/6 Mice
Background
Ethanol is a frequently abused, addictive drug that impairs cognitive function. Ethanol may disrupt cognitive processes by altering attention, short-term memory, and/ or long-term memory. Interestingly, some research suggests that ethanol may enhance cognitive processes at lower doses. The current research examined the dose-dependent effects of ethanol on contextual and cued fear conditioning. In addition, the present studies assessed the importance of stimulus salience in the effects of ethanol and directly compared the effects of ethanol on short-term and long-term memory.
Methods
This study employed both foreground and background fear conditioning, which differ in the salience of contextual stimuli, and tested conditioning at 4 hours, 24 hours, and 1 week in order to assess the effects of ethanol on short-term and long-term memory. Foreground conditioning consisted of 2 presentations of a foot shock unconditioned stimulus (US) (2 seconds, 0.57 mA). Background conditioning consisted of 2 auditory conditioned stimulus (30 seconds, 85 dB white noise)–foot shock (US; 2 seconds, 0.57 mA) pairings.
Results
For both foreground and background conditioning, ethanol enhanced short-term and long-term memory for contextual and cued conditioning at a low dose (0.25 g/kg) and impaired short-term and long-term memory for contextual and cued conditioning at a high dose (1.0 g/kg).
Conclusions
These results suggest that ethanol has long-lasting, biphasic effects on short-term and long-term memory for contextual and cued conditioning. Furthermore, the effects of ethanol on contextual fear conditioning are independent of the salience of the context.

 

The Language of Intoxication: Preliminary Investigations
Background
The extensive vocabulary individuals use to describe alcohol’s subjective effects has largely gone unexamined in contemporary alcohol research. The present study examined the language drinkers use to describe their own intoxication. It is argued that this language can provide a more complete characterization of alcohol’s subjective effects than is available from existing objective and subjective measures of alcohol use and can inform future self-report research.
Method
Toward this goal, a preliminary, cross-sectional, web-based study of the familiarity and usage of current intoxication-related words was conducted in 2 different samples (n = 290 and 146, respectively) of university undergraduates.
Results
Exploratory factor analyses using data from the first sample and confirmatory factor analyses using data from the second sample similarly showed that commonly used terms loaded onto 2 factors, which directly reflected the number of drinks required to be considered moderately or heavily intoxicated, respectively. Gender differences were also found in the familiarity and self-use of some terms across both samples.
Conclusions
The findings suggest that alcohol researchers include multiple intoxication-related terms in future self-report research, and to periodically assess current intoxication-related vocabulary considering demographic, generational, and socio-cultural differences.