There is no question, as accumulating evidence reveals, that alcohol in excess negatively affects the brain and neuropsychological functioning, both immediately and in the long-term. The important question for social drinkers, however, is whether moderate amounts of alcohol can have deleterious effects on the brain or performance in either the medium- or longterm. It has been proposed that there is a continuum of negative consequences with light drinkers at one end and chronic alcoholics at the other end. Three levels of study of this hypothesis are distinguished; behavioural, structural, and cellular. Research into effects at these three levels is reviewed both for alcoholics and for social drinkers. A further hypothesis relates to the possibility that cognitive functioning is impaired even after blood alcohol concentration has returned to zero. It is concluded that while neither the continuity hypothesis nor a‘hangover’hypothesis is supported by current evidence, considerably more research is nee
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