Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed

Re:Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed by ordu on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @05:11PM (#18860253)

Sadly enough, that all this science explores averages. I cannot drink alcohol because I remember "side effects" much more clearly than "direct" ones. I used to have fun from drinks, but with age I did it less frequently and for the last 10 years I didn't drink at all. Why? Is there is some psychological cause or some biochemistry mechanisms works at higher/lower intensity than in average fly? I cannot even make a guess reading such articles.

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Re:Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed by stochastic_monk on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @05:13PM (#18860269)

Maybe younger people are performing something like reinforcement learning with higher emphasis on exploration than exploitation relative to older individuals.

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Re:Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed by gregw134 on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @06:48PM (#18860967)

Well put.

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Re:Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed by aliteralrobot on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @05:34PM (#18860441)

I was going say something to this effect as well, for the other harder drugs I’ve tried. I do remember having fun while on them, but I also vividly remember the “come down”, and don’t really crave them at all because of that. I wonder if this (psychological?) trait is more common amongst people who are unlikely to become addicted to drugs.

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Re:Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed by penagwin on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @06:00PM (#18860624)

I have pretty bad depression and mindfulness (metacognition/awareness of your emotions) have a lot to do with memories. I'm often not "aware" that I'm happy/sad/angry, etc. and my memories reflect that. Just taking a moment and thinking about what I'm currently feeling can be surprising to me.

I think this relates a lot here, people who are well aware of their emotions may observe the effects the drugs have on them, not just when they're high/coming down but also it's affects on their day to day lives.

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Re:Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed by mruts on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @09:53PM (#18861883)

In college I remember loving amphetamines. I would take as much adderall as I could get my hands on.

It made me feel superhuman. Just knowing I would score some would get me excited.

But the more I times I took it, the more I would think of the terrible comedown. It got to the point where I wouldn’t touch the stuff without having weed and xanax on me.

Finally, I just got too scared of the comedown and stopped. All for the best I suppose (though I do take low doses of adderall or modafinil very occasionally for work if I feel like I’m about to fall asleep at my desk)

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Re:Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed by rconti on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @05:59PM (#18860619)

I, too, hate the "come down" more than I desire the reward, which makes me averse to many of those things, as well as gambling. I have a hard time following sports teams too closely because I hate to "lose" more than I like to "win".

That said, I don't have the same reaction to alcohol; the cravings when I regularly partake are stronger than the desire not to. I'm sure there's a whole spectrum of folks from averse to addiction, to easily addicted to anything.

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Re:Just a few drinks can change how memories are formed by eagsalazar2 on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @08:19PM (#18861487)

This is interesting to hear from other people. I basically stopped drinking because the side effects (being hungover specifically) made it no longer appealing on a totally emotionally level. I didn't realize this was "a thing". Nowadays I'll sometimes have 1 glass of wine and those alarm bells start ringing loudly preventing me from having a second.

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