60秒科学:Caffeine Merely Masks Alcohol's Effect
Caffeine Merely Masks Alcohol's Effect
An animal study in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience finds that coffee after alcohol consumption might merely make the drinker feel more capable, which could lead to bad decision making. Steve Mirsky reports
Cup of coffee after a night on the town to sober up? Well, a mouse study finds that caffeine does not counter the intoxicating 1 effects of alcohol. It merely masks the inebriation 2, which could lead to poor decisions. Because drinkers might think they’ve sobered up, whereas they could just be more wired. The study is in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.
Researchers gave mice doses, separately and together, of caffeine and alcohol. Tests then gauged 3 how well the mice learned how to avoid part of a maze 4 that appeared dangerous because of bright lights or loud sounds. And mouse anxiety was tested, through their willingness to be in an open area.
No surprise, drunk animals were more relaxed and had less anxiety, and had trouble learning to avoid possible danger. Then the mice got alcohol and caffeine together. And the caffeine did not improve a drunk animal’s ability to learn. So the mouse is more relaxed but less able to avoid threats—if it had a tiny car available it probably would have thought it was “fine, I’m fine enough to drive it.”
- Power can be intoxicating. 权力能让人得意忘形。
- On summer evenings the flowers gave forth an almost intoxicating scent. 夏日的傍晚，鲜花散发出醉人的芳香。
- His practice of inebriation was lamentable. 他的酗酒常闹得别人束手无策。 来自辞典例句
- Poor Tom lamentably disgraced himself at Sir Charles Mirable's table, by premature inebriation. 可怜的汤姆在查尔斯·米拉贝尔爵士的宴会上，终于入席不久就酩酊大醉，弄得出丑露乖，丢尽了脸皮。 来自辞典例句
- He picked up the calipers and gauged carefully. 他拿起卡钳仔细测量。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- Distance is gauged by journey time rather than miles. 距离以行程时间而非英里数来计算。 来自辞典例句