A study conducted by two fourth-year McMaster University students using the popular video game Minecraft found drinking during youth and adolescent years may have a more detrimental effect on memory than previously thought.
Cognitive neuroscience students Amentha Rajagobal and Maya Sengupta-Murray attempted to test the part of the brain critical to memory formation called the hippocampus. They designed a virtual environment in the world of Minecraft to test participants’ spatial memory. Participants of the study were asked to recall the specific locations of items placed in the environment.
The two said they found participants who had consumed any amount of alcohol performed worse than those who had been lifetime abstainers. Participants who had their first drink at 13 years old or younger couldn’t complete the task because “their spatial memory was at chance level,” Rajagobal said.
“A damaged hippocampus can lead to trouble remembering conversations, when or where an event takes place, or having trouble recalling directions, or navigating new places,” Sengupta-Murray said. “You’re less likely to form strong and meaningful memories.”
Sixty-one students participated in the study, which was done for a fourth-year cognitive science class under professor Suzanna Becker.
Rajagobal and Sengupta-Murray ended up finding those results conclusive.
“Consuming any amount of alcohol during development . . . before the age of 20 impairs spatial memory,” Rajagobal said. “And drinking earlier in adolescence leads to greater memory deficit than initiating drinking later in life.”
Fourth-year Carleton University computer science student Miran Mirza has played Minecraft before and found the study interesting.
“I know [drinking] impedes your ability to drive and carry out regular tasks,” he said, “but the fact that it impeded your Minecraft abilities, like your abilities to repeat patterns and memorize things is very interesting.”
Mirza added he only drinks occasionally and had his first drink at age 19, so he said the results of the study would not change much for him.
Rajagobal said the study’s findings influenced her and Sengupta-Murray to drink less.
“We do drink less now, that’s for sure,” Rajagobal said. “Seeing these results definitely changes the way you perceive alcohol. I try to reduce it as much as possible, and I definitely don’t binge drink anymore.”
