
Alcohol and Its Effects on Learning - clay
http://www.deltaself.com/2011/04/alcohol-and-its-effects-on-learning/
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brg
A pet theory of mine is that those with low self-awareness and lowered
inhibitions are the fastest learners.

The positive way of saying this is that those who are not afraid of making
mistakes will learn the most. By their willingness or indifference to being
wrong in a conversation they overcome the problems of accumulating unknown
unknowns. Meanwhile others who fear embarrassment accept a higher level of
ignorance.

The negative way of saying this is that the loudmouth in class is actually
doing everyone a favor.

It ties well into this article, as in the study alcohol is being used as a
medium to decrease self-awareness. There could be more to this theory. For
instance it possible that alcohol is accelerating the formation of new neural
connections. But it wouldn't be needed to show a benefit towards learning.

~~~
mayukh
A similar concept probably applies to the amazing ability of kids to pick up
different languages and learn so many new concepts in the early years. Their
low self-awareness and disregard for most social norms (including looking
stupid ) allows them to be more persistent towards their goal (eg learning a
new language or a new skill).

~~~
SpookyAction
The reason kids pick up languages and concepts early in life is a result of
evolution. It has nothing to do with self-awareness and disregard with social
norms. It's the complete opposite. Survival of early humans depended on
learning and communication. When we were hunter/gatherers cooperation and
socialization meant survival. The faster you learned language and social
skills (i.e. hunting or gathering) meant an increased chance of survival. The
faster you learned, the more likely you were to survive. Language and
socialization were key to early human survival and the more you excelled at
it, the more you thrived. If you didn't, your more likely to be a victim of
natural selection. Humans have an intrinsic nature to conform to what they
perceive as "social norms". It's a genetic response.

~~~
fooandbarify
I don't see how the two (excelling at language acquisition due to lowered
social inhibition vs evolving to excel at language acquisition early in life)
are mutually exclusive.

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salemh
I hate google noise (blogs, content farms) as I can't find a study from years
ago which showed:

Study drunk, test better when drunk (lets say buzzed, most people "drunk"
cannot function, its subjective in terminology).

Study sober, test better when sober.

You cannot mix it (in the study), IE: study drunk, test sober, study sober,
test drunk.

Its a "duh" or common sense thing to me, brain functions being formulative to
your current state of function.

I BELIEVE it was the University of Utah (which has a myriad of awesome drunk
studies (cell phones vs >.08 alcohol levels, etc).

~~~
clay
I have 2 references for you: 1\.
[http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ucbpl/docs/3-Alcohol-
Induced74...](http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ucbpl/docs/3-Alcohol-
Induced74.pdf)

2\. Topic of discussion at every college party ever

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driekken
I'm reminded of an interesting way babylonian merchants used to do business.
They would bargain for a deal while intoxicated on alcohol, thus proving to
each other that they are being honest.

Perhaps we should force all politicians to do the same thing? :)

~~~
masterzora
Given how often I hear it said that politicians would be better replaced by
drunk monkeys, you might be onto something.

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mech4bg
My german definitely becomes much, much better after a few beers. Too many
though and it starts getting worse.

No one's mentioned the Ballmer Peak yet?

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bennesvig
Just what every college student needs to read...Pretty interesting though.

~~~
burgerbrain
Every college student _should_ read this. Maybe if they had read it when I
went to school, I would have gotten less harsh looks for showing up to class
completely trashed every day...

~~~
jpr
A fitting username you have.

~~~
burgerbrain
The hilarious part is that I was able to spend 4 years straight intoxicated,
but I ended up getting the exact same degree as the rest of them. But yeah,
being wasted and doing as well as my peers sure does suggest I'm pretty dumb,
doesn't it.

People who look down on others for drinking are really no different than
anybody who looks down on _anybody_ else who has a lifestyle different from
their own.

~~~
fooandbarify
In my well-tested experience, there is a fine line between having fun and
making an ass of yourself. The correlation between showing up to class wasted
and making an ass of yourself is (again, in my own intimate experience) too
large to ignore.

Don't get me wrong, I like to drink a lot. And I don't look down on others who
drink a lot. I certainly don't think they're dumb. But I do think
promoting/encouraging/bragging about it is generally kind of silly, especially
when alcoholism is a serious problem that destroys lives.

~~~
burgerbrain
In my well-tested experiance, there is a fine line between me being able to
sit through a lecture that has been dumbed down to the LCD, and me saying
"fuck all" and not seeing to professor again until the final. That fine line
is approximately 3-4 drinks ("trashed" is an exageration). On a wet campus it
is entirely the professors call, and only once did I receive a complaint (over
the bottle, not my behavoir)

Don't get me wrong, I think alcoholism is a problem, but I _know_ that
_drinking_ is not. In fact, with all the recent neoprohibitionist MADD crap, I
think drinking needs some public advocacy of its own.

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JoeCortopassi
Sorry, this subject can't be mentioned on the internet without this link being
posted. Don't care if I'm downvoted to oblivion...

<http://xkcd.com/323/>

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quinndupont
My Deleuze reading group imbibes heavily, and it seems (in a totally non-
scientific way) to have no ill effects. Then again, it's Deleuze, so it's
almost impenetrable anyway. The 1960s in California were full of AI and comp.
sci. people doing brain enhancement/augmentation experiments with LSD and
other drugs. I see no reason why alcohol can't perform a similar function.

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bluedanieru
Is there any reason this is specific to alcohol? From the article that doesn't
appear to be the case. There are heaps of drugs that activate the same parts
of the brain mentioned here, without (as many of) the deleterious side
effects.

Curious that alcohol was singled out.

~~~
silentbicycle
Alcohol is an unusual drug because it's _ubiquitous_ (socially and
economically acceptable), and it has a very different effect in low doses than
in high ones.

