Metamemory without the memory: are people aware of midazolam-induced amnesia?

Full Abstract

RATIONALE: Midazolam is a benzodiazepine which produces a dense anterograde amnesia, while permitting relatively well-preserved short-term memory, semantic retrieval, and other higher cognitive functions. Given these preserved abilities, we were interested in whether or not participants given midazolam would be aware of this anterograde amnesia. METHOD: In the present experiment, participants were given midazolam in one testing session and a saline placebo in another. Participants provided judgments-of-learning (JOLs) immediately following study of cue-target pairs. During the test phase of the experiment, confidence levels and feeling-of-knowing (FOK) judgments were collected. RESULTS: Although cued recall performance was substantially impaired in the midazolam condition, mean JOLs were unaffected, indicating participants had little insight into their impairment during the study phase. Participants were relatively accurate in confidence levels and FOK judgments in the midazolam condition. CONCLUSION: When studying items under the influence of midazolam, participants are unaware that their memory will be impaired. Implications for clinical practice and pharmacological studies of amnesia are discussed.

Author information

Author/s: Merritt, Paul (P); Hirshman, Elliot (E); Hsu, John (J); Berrigan, Michael (M);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, George Washington University, 2125 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20052, USA. paul.merritt(-atsign-)mail.tamucc.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Comparative Study; Controlled Clinical Trial; Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Journal: Psychopharmacology (Psychopharmacology (Berl)), published in Germany. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2005-Jan; vol 177 (issue 3) : pp 336-43

Dates: Created 2004/12/20; Completed 2005/09/13; Revised 2008/11/21;

PMID: 15290003, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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