You know that commercial where the guy yells, “She’s totally into me!” right before the woman tosses a drink in his face? You’re basically that guy when you’ve had too much booze, shows new brain research from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Head scans of slightly drunk people revealed slow, disjointed communication between the parts of the brain responsible for identifying emotion and subtle social cues. Basically, the more you drink, the more trouble you have interpreting people’s expressions and moods, the research suggests.
While the different regions of your brain are normally in sync, alcohol appears to disrupt that synchronicity, the study authors say. Many emotional processes involve multiple parts of your brain. And so with every beer you tip back, your ability to judge whether that girl across the bar is digging your vibe—or about to throw up—becomes compromised.
Even worse than hitting on a girl who’s not interested? Being physically hit by some dude you didn’t realize is pissed at you. Both scenarios become more likely if you’ve had a lot to drink, the study shows.
How much is too much? It will vary a lot from person to person. But the study team spotted brain communication issues after the equivalent of two glasses of wine or two to three beers, says study author K. Luan Phan, M.D. Phan says this equated to a blood alcohol content of .09—or a little more than you’re legally allowed to drink before driving.
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