And One More for the Road: Commentary on the Special Issue on Alcohol and Eyewitness Memory

Studies examining the influences of alcohol intoxication have reported mixed findings on whether it impairs eyewitness memory. Although the studies in this Special Issue investigated different questions and tested different variables, the findings of these studies collectively provide insight into mechanisms and methodological issues that may explain the ambiguous findings of alcohol intoxication and eyewitness memory. In this commentary, we first describe the experimental studies of this Special Issue. We then discuss four mechanisms that could underlie those mixed findings (alcohol myopia, disinhibition, hypervigilance, meta-cognitive processes at retrieval). Last, we address methodological issues that may have contributed to those ambiguous findings (i.e., alcohol intoxication levels, automatic processing of stimuli, sensitivity of dependent variables, and possible interactions with arousal), and provide suggestions for future research to address these issues.