Blacking out?

I was just wondering...what part of your brain functions when you black out after drinking too much? and why do you black out, in the first place?
Like a couple of weeks ago, I had the bright Idea to drink one of those medium sized bottles of bacardi on...

a completly empty stomach, then I went out to a bar when I got homeI don't remember much after the 3rd drink, I remember taking my shoes off and running in the freezing water on the beach while laughing my butt off. Somehwere int he process I lost my camera and a couple other things, but the fact is. why do people black out when they drink a certain ammount? and if we don't know what we're doing, then how do we still end up walking around and navigating our selves to do silly things like run on the freezing beach in the middle of winter barefoot, or get home or call cabs. playing flawless games of pool that we're congratulated for the next day but have no recollection of? I don't understand how that happens

You do know what you are doing (but your judgement may be way off). What is happening is that your short term memory is not being transferred to your long term memory. Often, people around you during this black out episode do not even realize that anything is out of the ordinary (other than you are tipsy / drunk).

This very thing was talked about on Loveline a couple of months ago. If I remember or can find the episode, I'll FunMail you.

But in any event, be careful.

Hope this helps..

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-blackout-drinking.htm

Blackout drinking does not necessarily cause people to lose consciousness or “pass out.” Instead, high alcohol consumption temporarily interferes with the function of the brain, causing the brain to be unable to retain information in short term memory. Many people do lose consciousness at the tail end of a period of blackout drinking, but it is possible to do plenty of mischief while awake. Upon regaining consciousness, the drinker may not know where he or she is or what is going on.

There are two main ways in which blackout drinking can impact the memory. In some cases, blackout drinking results in a large chunk of “lost time,” and the drinker will be able to remember events before and after the missing block of memory. The skipped events in the middle are a clue that a blackout was experienced. It is also possible to lose only fragments of memory.

Because blackout drinkers lose all memory of the events which occur during a blackout, they are at serious risk. Women may find themselves taken advantage of and be unable to remember the event, for example, or someone may get into a fight and wake up confused about the injuries sustained. On a less serious level, a blackout drinker make a promise to do something or meet up with someone during the period of blackout and then fail to follow through, which can strain friendships.

The amount of alcohol required to induce a blackout varies, depending on someone's weight, mental status, and diet, among other things. Some people appear to have a genetic predisposition to blackout drinking which can be make them more susceptible, and even hardened drinkers can experience a blackout after consuming an amount of alcohol which they think is normal. Repeated blackout experiences are a sign that someone may be alcoholic, and he or she should seek counseling.