How Does Alcohol Cause Blackouts?

Explore how alcohol interacts with your brain, and how it can interrupt the brain’s memory networks, leading to blackouts.

Alcohol has been shown to have strange and selective effects on the brain. Many intoxicated people can perform complex tasks like holding a detailed conversation or navigating a walk home. Yet for those experiencing a blackout, the memory of these events is quickly forgotten. So, how does alcohol cause these memory lapses? Shannon Odell explores how ethanol interrupts the brain’s processes.