Don't worry, you're not alone.

別擔心，你並不孤單。

More than half of college students experience blackouts, according to several studies.

根據研究顯示，有超過一半的大學生都曾體驗過斷片的感覺。

And let's be clear, blacking out doesn't mean passing out.

要搞清楚喔，斷片不等於不省人事。

You were probably awake and aware the entire night.

你整晚應該幾乎都是醒著和有意識的。

So then, where did all those memories go?

所以這些記憶都跑去哪裡了？

Let's rewind to Friday night.

讓我們倒帶回到星期五晚上。

Normally, whenever you have an experience, like a conversation, a part of your brain called the prefrontal cortex stores that information in short-term memory.

在正常情況下，只要你有經歷過一些事像是和人說話，你大腦的前額葉皮質會把那些訊息儲存到短期記憶裡。

Then, another part of your brain called the hippocampus weaves those experiences together, so they can be stored away as long-term memories.

而你大腦的另一部分稱海馬迴，會把這些經驗組合起來，進而存到長期記憶裡。

So the next day, you remember the party as a whole, instead of the smell of sweat, house music, Jen was there.

所以隔天你記得你有參加派對，但卻不記得在派對裡聞到的汗水味、聽到的音樂或是看到的 Jen。

But here's the key part.

重點來了。

Storing these episodes in long-term memory requires special neurotransmitters.

要把這些片段儲存至長期記憶需要透過特別的神經傳導物質。

But your liquor shots prevent the neurotransmitters from working properly.

但你喝下的烈酒阻礙了這些神經傳導物質的正常運作。

So instead of remembering the party, all you have is an incomplete, or even empty file.

所以你不記得派對上發生的所有事情，你的記憶都是不完整，甚至是空白的。

And the amount of alcohol in your system at the time influences how much you remember.

而在當下你體內的酒精濃度也會影響你的記憶程度。

Let's say you're a 73-kilogram adult man, and you've done eight shots in one hour.

假設你是體重 73 公斤的成年男子，在一小時內喝了八杯烈酒。

Your blood alcohol content is probably around 0.2% by this point, more than twice the legal limit for driving a car.

此刻，你的血液酒精濃度大概是 0.2 %，超出駕駛法規限制的 2 倍。

And your brain may still be able to store some memories, so you end up with islands of memories separated by missing sections.

你的大腦依然可以儲存部分的記憶，所以結果只有零散的記憶。

That's called a fragmentary blackout, aka a grayout or brownout.

這是零碎式的斷片，也就是所謂像因限電所造成的電力不足般。

But if you keep pounding those shots, it gets worse.

但如果你再繼續乾杯，情況會變得更糟。

Within the next half hour, you pound back another four shots.

在接下來的半小時，你再乾下四杯酒。

Now your blood alcohol content hits around 0.3%, and your hippocampus goes dark, and full amnesia sets in.

現在你的血液酒精濃度已達 0.3%，海馬迴裡的記憶會開始斷掉，陷入失憶的狀態。

This is called an en bloc blackout, and once you wake up, that entire night could be blank.

這是指整個大腦的記憶斷片，等到你醒來後，前一晚的記憶會是一片空白。

Push your BAC much higher than that, and you might die.

再把血液酒精濃度推得更高的話，你有可能會死。

And yet your friends might not even realize you're in the middle of a blackout, since the alcohol didn't delete your long-term memories already safe in storage before the night began.

你的朋友不一定會發現你已經斷片了，因為酒精不會刪除你在派對夜前已安好儲存在大腦的長期記憶。

So you can still carry on conversations and behave more or less like a typical person, to an extent.

因此，你還是可以和朋友對話，某種程度上看起來還像個正常人。

Blackouts aside, alcohol can still interfere with other regions of your brain, including those responsible for reasoning and decision-making.

除了會斷片，酒精還會影響你大腦的其他區域，包括負責邏輯和判斷的部分。

So during blackouts, people have crashed cars, gotten into fights, and committed or been the victims of sexual assault.

所以在斷片的時候，會發生車禍、與人打鬥、犯下性侵罪或是成為性侵的受害者。

They might just not remember it.

而他們事後可能什麼都不記得。

That being said, not everyone gets blackouts.

話雖如此，並不是每個人都會斷片。

Your sex, body weight and family history all play a role.

性別、體重和家族病史都會是影響的因素。

So that could explain why your friends recall the entire night, despite downing just as much tequila.

所以這就可以解釋為什麼你的朋友就算喝再多的龍舌蘭，仍然清楚記得整晚發生的事。

But it won't save them from a wicked hangover the next morning.

不過他們還是逃不過隔天早上宿醉的命運。