Skip to main content

Health Topics: Alcohol-Induced Blackouts

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

At a Glance

Alcohol-related blackouts are gaps in a person’s memory for events that occurred while they were intoxicated. These gaps happen when a person drinks enough alcohol to temporarily block the transfer of memories from short-term to long-term storage—known as memory consolidation—in a brain area called the hippocampus.

Image
alcohol-induced-blackouts-question-mark-image
Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov