Behavior experts were split Monday on whether the alleged anti-Semitic comments of actor Mel Gibson were a reflection of his beliefs or simply gibberish induced by intoxication – the alcohol talking, in other words.

Gibson reportedly unleashed an anti-Semitic tirade and made other offensive comments when he was pulled over, initially for speeding, early Friday along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. He was then arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.

An official police report on the arrest substantiates claims that Gibson made anti-Semitic remarks and threatened a deputy, officials said earlier Monday.

Sheriff’s Department officials sent prosecutors their case, which also says a tequila bottle was found in Gibson’s car when he was pulled over.

Gibson has issued a public apology for his conduct without specifying what he said or did.

Remarks such as those Gibson is alleged to have made are “not a product of alcohol,” said Dr. Samuel Barondes, professor of psychology and neurobiology at the University of California, San Francisco. The content of any comment is in a person’s head, “in his opinion structure.”

Others, however, argue that gross intoxication can lead to a free association of ideas that are unrelated to an individual’s true character.

“Basically, the person talks gibberish … and can behave in a very bizarre way,” said Dr. Bankole Johnson, chairman of psychiatric medicine at the University of Virginia. “They might not even be certain of what they are saying. They don’t understand what they are saying, and they don’t mean what they are saying.”

That argument has persisted in the profession for many years, and is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, experts said.

Director Mel Gibson, center, speaks on set during filming of his new film Apocalypto in Mexico. After Gibson's drunken driving arrest Friday, allegations ensued that he made anti-Semitic remarks to a Jewish officer and sheriff's deputies gave him preferential treatment.

“I would imagine that both options are possible,” said Dr. Steven Sussman, a professor of preventive medicine and psychology at the University of Southern California. “I am not sure that anyone knows for sure.”

Psychologist Mark Fillmore, of the University of Kentucky, points to research that has shown that, at moderate levels (the legal limit for driving is .08 percent in California), alcohol releases what are known as “prepotent responses” – beliefs, thoughts and actions that an individual normally would suppress.

“Alcohol doesn’t produce new behaviors,” he said. “It releases things that people believe or know. … It exaggerates the personality of the individual.”

Gibson reportedly had a blood alcohol level of about 0.12, which would be well within the range at which such behaviors are manifested, Fillmore said.

But behavior may change if a person is simultaneously taking prescription drugs, such as tranquilizers or benzodiazepines. Such drugs would exacerbate the effects of the alcohol, making the person act as if they were grossly intoxicated.

There is no shortage of expert opinion on the drinker who is highly intoxicated: Sussman cautioned that some drunks deliberately say things they don’t believe in order to be belligerent or to produce a particular response.

Other drinkers, said Barondes, become very aggressive and “sensitive to the smallest slight,” adding, “They want to pick a fight with somebody.”

At higher levels of intoxication, Fillmore said, inebriated people “have a breakdown of cognitive functioning. It’s difficult for them even to recall what they believe.”

In trying to tease apart which behavior is which, Johnson said, it is important to look at history – how the person behaved when they were intoxicated before.

“If this behavior is new, if no one has witnessed it before,” he said, then there is a good possibility it really is the alcohol talking.

But Barondes disagrees.

“Alcohol doesn’t create the ability to say things like, ‘Jews are controlling the world,’ ” he said.