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Cup of coffee after a night on the town to sober up? Well, a mouse study finds that caffeine does not counter the intoxicating effects of alcohol. It merely masks the inebriation, which could lead to poor decisions. Because drinkers might think they’ve sobered up, whereas they could just be more wired. The study is in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.
宿醉之后喝杯咖啡醒醒酒如何？别忙着倒咖啡，一项在小白鼠身上进行的实验表明，咖啡在抑制醉酒反应方面并无良效。咖啡因无法让人醒酒，却有可能帮倒忙。因为那些喝过咖啡的醉汉们会认为自己已经清醒，而事实上正好相反。这项研究发表在《行为神经系统科学》期刊上。
Researchers gave mice doses, separately and together, of caffeine and alcohol. Tests then gauged how well the mice learned how to avoid part of a maze that appeared dangerous because of bright lights or loud sounds. And mouse anxiety was tested, through their willingness to be in an open area.
研究者们让一组小白鼠摄入酒精，另一组则既摄入酒精又摄入咖啡因。然后，研究者们将小白鼠放入一个迷宫当中，并用强光和噪声作为危险的信号。研究者们想看看这些小白鼠学习避开这些警示信号的能力如何。同时这些小白鼠的警惕性也被纳入考量范围，其方法是将小白鼠放置在空旷地带并观察它们的反应。
No surprise, drunk animals were more relaxed and had less anxiety, and had trouble learning to avoid possible danger. Then the mice got alcohol and caffeine together. And the caffeine did not improve a drunk animal’s ability to learn. So the mouse is more relaxed but less able to avoid threats—if it had a tiny car available it probably would have thought it was “fine, I’m fine enough to drive it.”
结果并不意外，醉酒的小白鼠显得放松而缺乏警惕，它们无法学会如何避会那些危险的信号。那么既摄入过酒精又摄入过咖啡因的小白鼠表现如何呢？咖啡因并未提高这些小白鼠的学习能力。这些小白鼠和之前的那些一样缺乏警惕，无法学会如何避开危险信号。而如果有那么一辆可供老鼠驾驶的微型汽车，这些摄入过咖啡因的小白鼠们可能就会想：“我已经醒酒了，我能开车。”
