UH Study: Binge drinkers more likely to use, enjoy medieval weaponry

A recent study conducted by the University of Houston's Department of Psychology and the Center for Neuro-Engineering & Cognitive Science found that binge drinkers are 84% more likely to use, and to enjoy using, medieval weapons such as maces, spears, and crossbows. This study was part of a larger disciplinary effort to research the adverse effects of binge drinking among college students. In order to curb the campus drinking culture, experts say, we need to make students aware of the consequences of their drinking habits.

The Paw talked to head researcher on this project, Nicole Meyerson, to find out how such a groundbreaking study was able to collect its data.

Self-report with regard to drinking habits is notoriously unreliable. In order to gain an accurate sample of binge drinkers, we had to meet them where they live. We camped outside of Calhoun's Rooftop [campus bar] on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights over a span of four months. When students were forcibly removed from the premises by security for over-intoxication, we stood there with a 6-foot halberd and asked them if they'd like to play with some medieval stuff.

The answers were shocking. Over the entire span of the study, 57% were recorded as saying "Fuck yeah!", 12% started high-fiving strangers, and a whopping 19% nodded and then vomited.

Not only were these individuals more likely than the control population sample to want to use these archaic armaments, they had more fun with them too. The study found that "after half an hour of delivering Dark Ages justice to some ballistic gel dummies, CT scans showed high activity in the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, and ventral tegmental among participants in the 'binge drinker' group. These are areas of the brain traditionally associated with pleasure."

Binge drinkers also wielded their weapons with more strength and barbarity than did non-binge drinkers. Pressure indicators on dummy targets found that binge drinkers sliced, impaled, and battle-axed their victims with 163% the pounds per square inch (psi) of their counterparts in the control group.

Despite the statistical significance of these findings, authors of the study admit there are limitations to their data's support of their conclusion. "The metric by which we placed people into the 'binge drinker' category could have captured general intoxication level instead of true susceptibility to binge drinking. Future studies should distinguish between actual binge drinkers and those who usually drink in moderation but happen to be plastered the night of the study."

For The Paw, this is Erik Weisz.