Kimosabe wrote:It's a common misconception (and this is not an endorsement of drinking alcohol until judgement is impaired) that a tense person will react more quickly to a situation than a relaxed one.
It is no misconception. Tension and stress are different degrees of the flight or fight response, a biological state specifically evolved to minimize reaction time and maximise our response to danger.
It is argued that this is because our subconscious is able to process and respond to more information, more efficiently than our conscious mind.
True. Stress and tension act to prime the subconsious mind for action - which is why reaction times decrease, so I do not see how this means than being under the influence of alcohol will make us a better driver.
One way to look at this is if you were just shown something and asked about it, you would recall it faster and more accurately than if you were asked about it years later.
This is simply because our short term memory offers faster access than long term memory. Nothing to do with our state of relaxation.
Isn't this the reason for why statements are taken as close to the time of an event as possible?
Actually it is to prevent a phenomena where peoples beliefs and expectations modify their recall over time causing them to generate false memories.
It also denies the guilty or malicious time to come up with a convincing fabrication.
Here is a video of people a bit merry, but below the UK drink driving limit.
My challenge to you: Find something similar that shows people driving better while "a bit merry".