18 replies to this topic

[Hum]

Beer makes men smarter.

So say researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

They found that men with a couple beers under their belts were actually better at solving brain-teasers than their sober counterparts.

To reach that surprising conclusion, the researchers devised a bar game in which 40 men were given three words and told to come up with a fourth that fits the pattern.

For example, the word “cheese” could fit with words like “blue” or “cottage” or “Swiss.”

Half the players were given two pints. The other half got nothing.

The result? Those who imbibed solved 40% more of the problems that their sober counterparts.

Also, the drinkers finished their problems in 12 seconds while it took the non-drinkers 15.5 seconds.

“We found at 0.07 blood alcohol, people were worse at working memory tasks, but they were better at creative problem-solving tasks,” psychologist Jennifer Wiley reported on the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS) site.

Wiley conceded that her findings run counter to popular belief that alcohol hinders analytical thinking and muddies the mind.

“We have this assumption, that being able to focus on one part of a problem or having a lot of expertise is better for problem solving,” says Wiley. “But that’s not necessarily true. Innovation may happen when people are not so focused. Sometimes it’s good to be distracted.”

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[Rohdekill]

That's as about as unscientific of an experiment as one could get.

I could get achieve the exact opposite results....20 sober, above average IQ men questioned against 20 drunk men dumber than a rock.

[Lant]

Rohdekill, on 14 April 2012 - 14:37, said:

That's as about as unscientific of an experiment as one could get.

Perhaps read the paper and then judge the method. If you still feel its poorly done, then contact the authors or better yet write your own paper refuting their studies.

[I_Kaplan]

No wonder I am stupid I don't drink beer.

[nominak]

I've been around a few drunk people. None of them any smarter when drunk.

[Relativity_17]

The people in the study were not drunk.

[Farstrider]

God, I always love these threads! Half the people here are more of an expert that the experts (who conducted the study) and the other half have not read what has been posted and also fly to conclusions in an attempt to sound smart!

[FMH]

This may be so, because alcohol has a relaxing effect. The beer drinkers wouldn't get nervous about the IQ test, as opposed to the non-drinkers.

[Hum]

And yet beer-drunken men can't drive themselves home.

[Detection]

FMH, on 14 April 2012 - 20:57, said:

This may be so, because alcohol has a relaxing effect. The beer drinkers wouldn't get nervous about the IQ test, as opposed to the non-drinkers.

Yea ^^^ this

Relaxing allows you to enjoy and focus on what your meant to be doing rather than trying to beat the nerves and inhibitions first

[Growled]

I'm going to the store right now to buy me some beer.

[Hum]

^ Don't be sampling any on the way home.

[+McKay]

Seeing a crowd of drunken men gathered around the quiz machine explains so much.

[still1]

that makes perfect sense to me.

[Breakthrough]

Don't take everything at face value.

Quote

“We found at 0.07 blood alcohol, people were worse at working memory tasks, but they were better at creative problem-solving tasks,” says Wiley.

I guess this doesn't apply to anything longer then a quick brain teaser.