A joint study between Brown and Boston Universities shows that binge drinking does not affect test-taking abilities:
Over a four-day period, the 193 student participants were given either an alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverage. The students who received alcoholic beverages drank until they had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12. The next day, participants took practice versions of the Graduate Record Exam and a mock quiz on a lecture they received the previous afternoon.There are the usual "blah blah blah binge drinking is still bad for you" warnings from the dude who conducted the study, but whatever: I think the real crime here is that nearly 100 college students had to go four days without a drink. That is some Stanley Milgram-style wrong going on there.Whether they were sober or inebriated the previous night, all of the students received similarly high scores on both exams.
State. Dependent. Learning. This is why you just stay drunk all the time.
"blah blah blah binge drinking is still bad for you"
Some peoples' drinking is only bad for others AROUND them, Alex.
Unless, you know, they make you do it.
I took the PSAT with a puking hangover. It worked out fine!
That comment is made even better by the Little My avatar.
I got hammered at Jimmy's and took my GREs the next day, the day Crystal Pepsi was introduced. Everything went fine, and I still swear by Crystal Pepsi as a hangover cure to this day.
I once (accidentally) set my hair on fire at Jimmy's.
en oino peri Robioikon echoruesa. (Oikon Robies? Whatever, you get it.)
More anecdotes!
I went to a party the night before taking the LSAT for the first time (on a lark, so I hadn't really studied). The next time I took it? After actually studying and not drinking the night before? I only scored 4 points higher. [sadtrombone]
I think they should repeat this experiment, but with a driving test.
Is there a part two of this study that includes video of BU students pretending to be drunk on the placebo?
ha!
This study doesn't surprise me. My sophomore year I showed up on campus the first day drunk on gin and vodka and stayed that way until the end of the semester. I was too drunk to drive home for Thanksgiving, so I went through the entire semester without a break. Meanwhile, I destroyed every test I took. PHIL 203, Philosophy of Art? Destroyed it. PHIL 206, Normative Ethics? Destroyed it. PHIL 207? Philosophy of Language? The professor actually sent me a note congratulating me on "one of the single best sophomore papers I've ever seen." She was so impressed she invited me to lunch and I made the decision to sober up for it. Three straight days without booze. I'll never forget that lunch, because that was when I learned I was actually a junior, not a sophomore, and that my major wasn't Philosophy at all, but Ceramic Engineering, and that I was enrolled in a different school 47 miles away. Still, I did really well on those tests, and looking back I can definitely attribute it to the booze.
ha ha Brown
ha ha BU
ha ha joint study
Back in the pre-Cambrian era when I was an undergrad, school health centers were really into this questionnaire published, I think, by the University of Michigan. If you answered "yes" to more than 1 of the questions, you were to consider yourself an alcoholic who needed to be in treatment. The questions were like "Have you ever drunk so much you threw up?" "Have you ever drunk so much you blacked out?" "Has your drinking ever interfered with your schoolwork?" "Has your drinking ever interfered with your job?" By my reckoning, 97% of all college students in the late 80s early 90s required in-patient care.
Don't worry, they still have it. I think the percentage is more like 99.999%, though.
Did they verify the blood alcohol of the sober participants?
Also: .12? That's, like, responsible & moderate. Or lunch, maybe.
And also: I'm loving the "Sober College: Not Your Ordinary Rehab" ads. Complete w/ sober surfing dude!
Yeah, .12 doesn't constitute binge drinking in my book. Try .25. Yeah, that's right. At this very moment.
Their definition of 'binge drinking' seems to be very different from, well, everyone.
0.12? Really? Have these researchers even been/i> to college?
Amateurs.
Last day of freshman year I took the wrong class' final and was too hungover to notice, also I had not been to the class since before spring break. Still got a C, but unfortunately I never found out how I did on the geology final (I was enrolled in geography).
yes, but After College, watch out!
I mis-lit the gas water heater this morning, and KABOOM!
All my facial hair is gone.
(maybe I can get work as a drag queen?)
Also, Do Drag Queens actually work?
No, they tell you to work.