The present review highlights issues that contribute to the definition of binge drinking, with the main variables centering on the quantity consumed and the time-frame of consumption. However, alcohol consumption effects are modulated by individual variation with respect to expectancy, how expectations influence the perception of inebriation, tolerance to alcohol ingestion, and the social environment. These factors contribute to the characterization of binge drinking in relation to its cognitive, physiological, and withdrawal effects. Moreover, the relevant findings empirically differentiate binge drinking from clinical alcoholism by defining how these variables influence alcohol effects. Thus, the interactive milieu of alcohol's internal determinants is complex and surprisingly subtle, so that binging to some is not necessarily binging to others.
