Wine swine
Does booze make you say things that you don't really believe? No and yes, scientists suggest.
Mel Gibson may not "fully believe" that Jews have caused all the wars in the world, but it was a view waiting to come out when his defences were down. He may, however, think they've played a rather provocative role in the current Iz/Hiz conflict.
Perhaps more often, as is noted, it's as the Italians say when one misspeaks: “mi è scappato" - “It escaped from me.”
Mel Gibson may not "fully believe" that Jews have caused all the wars in the world, but it was a view waiting to come out when his defences were down. He may, however, think they've played a rather provocative role in the current Iz/Hiz conflict.
Alcohol suppresses the prefrontal cortex and the cerebellum regions of the brain, said Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, who declined to comment specifically on the Gibson case.
Those of us who drink - 80-something percent, I read at the weekend - have all said something we regret that we really don't mean. Sometimes, of course, it's an excuse to say something we do mean.The cerebellum governs motor coordination, which explains the drunk’s weaving walk and iffy driving skills. The prefrontal cortex “is normally making an assessment of the appropriateness of your acts,” she said, modulating desires and urges. After a couple of drinks, Dr. Volkow said, suppressing such impulses becomes much harder.
“Alcohol brings you back into adolescence and childhood,” she said, the time before the prefrontal cortex is fully developed.
This leads to a condition that researchers call the “alcohol myopia effect,” in which someone who has had too much to drink reacts to immediate cues without regard to consequences or the broader social context.
Perhaps more often, as is noted, it's as the Italians say when one misspeaks: “mi è scappato" - “It escaped from me.”
posted by Mark Broatch at 7:32 PM
3 Comments:
Trying to figure this one out. Perhaps my cerebellum or frontal cortex is not up to the task. Does the too-good Mel regret that he doesn't mean what he said?
I would suspect that he regrets that he said what he does mean, sometimes.
This may be apocryphal but I once read that the Vikings, when a momentous issue arose, would debate it twice: once sober and once drunk. Can't remember the order in which they did it - mi e scappato.
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