Drinking alcohol can alter the brain in ways that make people more likely to express their thoughts, but this is not necessarily true.
“Alcohol makes it easier for us to verbalize what’s on our minds. In some cases, that may be true. In other cases, it may just be what you think is true while intoxicated“, Live Science reported on September 2, quoting Aaron White, head of the Biometrics and Epidemiology Branch at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
Alcohol can make people more likely to express their thoughts. (Photo: Cleveland Clinic).
This means that a person is more likely to voice their thoughts after drinking alcohol. However, they may also say something that seems true while drunk but do not value it when sober. For example, a drunken person might claim they will leave the city or quit their job, only to quickly retract that statement the next morning. Several studies on the effects of alcohol on personality, emotion, and cognition support this idea.
For instance, a study published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science in 2017 examined how the personalities of participants changed after consuming enough lemon vodka to reach a blood alcohol concentration of 0.09%. Observers noted that the most significant change in the participants’ personalities was that they became much more extroverted. Although the study did not investigate whether alcohol acts as a “truth serum”, a person who feels more comfortable in social settings is also more likely to be honest.
While alcohol may help people break down their barriers and express their thoughts, White noted that the impact of alcohol on emotions can make these thoughts more erratic.
“Drinking tends to amplify emotions. We may smile more and speak louder in comfortable interactions, but perhaps, according to researcher Claude Steele at Stanford University, we are also more prone to crying in uncomfortable situations”, explained Michael Sayette, a psychology professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
Enhanced emotions may lead people to express their thoughts, but it can also cause them to become unstable and say things they do not truly take seriously or may later regret. This is similar to how drinking can make some people aggressive or impulsive—behaviors that might cross their minds when sober, but at that time, they still have the capacity to resist.
“Since alcohol can alter thoughts and emotions, it’s no surprise that behaviors can also change. Alcohol can make our behaviors more extreme,” Sayette stated. These effects stem from alcohol’s ability to cause disinhibition, meaning people are more likely to act on impulse. The reason is that alcohol weakens signals in the prefrontal cortex—the brain region that regulates behavior and impulse control, White explained.
Moreover, alcohol also inhibits the amygdala, a deep brain structure that triggers feelings of fear and anxiety. When a person is sober, the amygdala usually sends warning signals to prevent them from saying or doing things that might be socially inappropriate, but those signals diminish after a few drinks.
