Communications of the ACM
Here's How Young People Decide When They're Drunk 'enough,' According to Math
Researchers at The Ohio State University have developed mathematical models that have enabled colleagues to explain the factors that drive alcohol consumption among young people.
Credit: Danielle Ruderman/The Ohio State University
Mathematical models developed by computer engineers at The Ohio State University (OSU) have enabled colleagues to explain the factors that drive alcohol consumption among young people.
The preliminary findings indicate college students drink until they attain a certain level of drunkenness, and then adjust the pace of their drinking--sipping versus gulping, for example--at different times throughout the night to maintain that level.
The study provides a proof of concept for new research that will make use of very large and complex datasets. Participants will wear trans-dermal blood alcohol monitors when they go out on the weekends and will use personal fitness monitors, which will track data such as their sleep and exercise habits. Researchers will be able to track as many as 5,000 different variables per person during a two-week period. The goal is to develop a smartphone app that will alert users when they have had enough to drink.
"The way the students made decisions about drinking actually resembled the single most common feedback controller that's used in engineering," says OSU professor Kevin M. Passino. "It's called a proportional-derivative controller, and it measures how far a system has moved from a particular set point and adjusts accordingly."
From The Ohio State University
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