Effects of alcohol on word categorization and recognition memory.

Thirty-six subjects were given no alcohol on one day and 1 ml alcohol/kg body weight on another (the order of administration being counterbalanced across subjects). In both sessions, they performed a word categorization task involving surface and semantic processing of lists of 50 words followed by a recognition task (the presentation of those words in addition to an equal number of new words for speeded recognition). For categorization, subjects were slower and less accurate with alcohol than without. For recognition, alcohol resulted in a decrease in d' and an increase in beta. Categorization was slower and recognition more accurate for semantic processing than for surface processing. There was no evidence that the detrimental effects of alcohol on recognition memory can be reduced by deeper processing of the to-be-remembered items.