Checking someone's short term memory can tell you if someone is blacked out.
You can tell if someone is blacked out by doing a short term memory test.
People who are blacked out will not be able to remember things that happened just a few minutes ago.
So if the person who is blacked out does not know what you are talking about or has no memory of what happened then it can be assumed that they are blacked out.
Blacking out is not the same as passing out.
A blackout is not the same as “passing out,” which means either falling asleep or losing consciousness from drinking too much.
During a blackout, a person is still awake but their brain is not creating new memories.
Many people, including doctors, assume that blackouts are due to epileptic seizures, but much more commonly they are due to syncope which is a type of blackout which is caused by a problem in the regulation of blood pressure or sometimes with the heart.
If you have a blackout, you lose consciousness temporarily.
Before that, you might fall down, have blurred-vision, or be confused.
Sometimes, people experience memory loss and describe this as a blackout – for example, after they have drunk a lot of alcohol or taken illicit drugs.
Recalling events can be triggered when mentioned by another person that was there.
A blackout generally does not mean that you have damaged your brain. However, long-term brain damage is a side effect of alcohol use.
If a person builds a tolerance to alcohol and blacks out often from drinking, this can be harmful.
Some people use the terms blackout and fainting interchangeably, but they are two different things.
A blackout is a loss of memory. Fainting, also called passing out, is a loss of consciousness.
When someone is passing out with their eyes open, this may be caused by generalized tonic-clonic seizures, long fainting episode, or vasovagal syncope.