And to add a little more to this blackout vs unconscious issue. Perhaps the most common myth about a blackout is that it involves passing out. This might well happen at some point, but during a blackout the person is often still able to talk and laugh and flirt and sing and dance, and may appear to be in control of all their faculties. However, the next day there will be no memory of those things, so it’s as if they didn’t really happen.

“People appear able to keep information active in short–term memory for at least a few seconds,” Dr. White says. “As a result, they can often carry on conversations, drive automobiles, and engage in other complicated behaviors. However, the process of transferring information from short–term to long–term storage in the brain has been completely blocked.”