Drinking Can Bring Your Accent Back, Studies Say

Ever wonder why a few sips of your favorite cocktail or beer could leave you feeling nostalgic for your hometown? It may not just be the flavor you're remembering.

Research from the University of Cleveland shows that your hometown accent may come back while drinking, even though you may not still have the accent you grew up with. According to NBC News, changing your old accent takes cognitive functions that are impaired when you're downing drinks. This phenomenon can also happen when people are too cold or tired.

"We slur our words, and it's harder to maintain the motor coordination and control needed for effective fine motor execution needed for speech production," said Amee Shah, director of Cleveland State University's Research Laboratory in Speech Acoustics and Perception to NBC News.

When drinking, researchers say the brain is too focused on other cognitive functions that are more basic and vital, and speech just seems to fall near the bottom of the list.

This phenomenon was evident recently when actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested for a DUI. The actress's mild, almost Midwestern voice was replaced by her native, Louisiana twang.