Drunk? It's all in the mind

If you think you lose your memory when you are drunk then think again - it could all be in the mind.

People behave as if they are drunk if they believe they have had alcohol - even when they drink only water, scientists found.

The researchers set up a room like a pub and served drinks to 148 students .

They told half that they were drinking vodka and the other half that they had just downed tonic water. But, in fact, they were all given water.

Then the group was shown slides of a crime and asked to assess a story spiked with misleading information.

The researchers found those who thought they were drinking vodka had poorer memory powers than those who knew they were sober.

They were also more open to suggestion and less reliable as eyewitnesses.

'We have made people's memory worse by telling them they were intoxicated, even though they had nothing stronger than plain flat tonic water with limes,' said researcher Maryanne Garry, of Victoria University in New Zealand.

It was well known that memory could be affected by perception, said Dr Jim Golby, of the University of Teesside.

How a person perceived a crime was influenced by the social circumstances they were in at the time, he added.