Alcohol enhancement of human memory: tests of consolidation and interference hypotheses

Two hypotheses about the phenomenon of alcohol-enhanced human memory were investigated. Whereas a consolidation account of this phenomenon indicates that continued processing of a target memory is facilitated by alcohol, an interference account states that the alcohol main effect is to impair the acquisition of potentially interfering new memories. No support was found for the consolidation view in an experiment manipulating (1) the length of time items preceded drug administration, (2) the amount of postpresentation processing each item received, and (3) the type of memory test employed. In line with expectations derived from interference theory, retention was substantially improved only for recall and not for tests of recognition memory.