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| Research article summary (published 30 Jul 2006): |
When memory fails, intuition reigns: midazolam enhances implicit inference in humans.
Full Abstract
People often make logically sound decisions using explicit reasoning strategies, but sometimes it pays to rely on more implicit "gut-level" intuition. The transitive inference paradigm has been widely used as a test of explicit logical reasoning in animals and humans, but it can also be solved in a more implicit manner. Some researchers have argued that the hippocampus supports relational memories required for making logical inferences. Here we show that the benzodiazepene midazolam, which inactivates the hippocampus, causes profound explicit memory deficits in healthy participants, but enhances their ability in making implicit transitive inferences. These results are consistent with neurocomputational models of the basal ganglia-dopamine system that learn to make decisions through positive and negative reinforcement. We suggest that disengaging the hippocampal explicit memory system can be advantageous for this more implicit form of learning.
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Author information
Author/s: Frank, Michael J (MJ); O'Reilly, Randall C (RC); Curran, Tim (T);
Affiliation: Department of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. mfrank(-atsign-)u.arizona.edu
Grants: M01RR00051 (Agency:NCRR NIH HHS) ; MH069597-01 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS) ; MH64812-01 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Journal: Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS (Psychol Sci), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2006-Aug; vol 17 (issue 8) : pp 700-7
Dates: Created 2006/08/17; Completed 2006/10/05; Revised 2007/11/14;
PMID: 16913953, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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