Neutral and emotional episodic memory: global impairment after lorazepam or scopolamine.

Full Abstract

RATIONALE:
Benzodiazepines and anticholinergic drugs have repeatedly been shown to impair episodic memory for emotionally neutral material in humans. However, their effect on memory for emotionally laden stimuli has been relatively neglected.

OBJECTIVE:
We sought to investigate the effects of the benzodiazepine, lorazepam, and the anticholinergic, scopolamine, on incidental episodic memory for neutral and emotional components of a narrative memory task in humans.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:
A double-blind, placebo-controlled independent group design was used with 48 healthy volunteers to examine the effects of these drugs on emotional and neutral episodic memory.

RESULTS:
As expected, the emotional memory advantage was retained for recall and recognition memory under placebo conditions. However, lorazepam and scopolamine produced anterograde recognition memory impairments on both the neutral and emotional components of the narrative, although floor effects were obtained for recall memory. Furthermore, compared with placebo, recognition memory for both central (gist) and peripheral (detail) aspects of neutral and emotional elements of the narrative was poorer after either drug.

CONCLUSIONS:
Benzodiazepine-induced GABAergic enhancement or scopolamine-induced cholinergic hypofunction results in a loss of the enhancing effect of emotional arousal on memory. Furthermore, lorazepam- and scopolamine-induced memory impairment for both gist (which is amygdala dependent) and detail raises the possibility that their effects on emotional memory do not depend only on the amygdala. We discuss the results with reference to potential clinical/forensic implications of processing emotional memories under conditions of globally impaired episodic memory.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Kamboj, Sunjeev K (SK); Curran, H Valerie (HV);

Affiliation: Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, Sub-department of Clinical Health Psychology, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK. sunjeev.kamboj(-atsign-)ucl.ac.uk

Grants: (Agency:Wellcome Trust)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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

Reference: 2006-Nov; vol 188 (issue 4) : pp 482-8

Dates: Created 2006/10/23; Completed 2007/03/13; Revised 2007/08/13;

PMID: 17047934, 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.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adolescent
Adult
Anti-Anxiety Agents - pharmacology
Double-Blind Method
Emotions - drug effects
Female
GABA Modulators - pharmacology

GABA Modulators - pharmacology
Humans
Lorazepam - pharmacology
Male
Memory - drug effects
Muscarinic Antagonists - pharmacology
Scopolamine - pharmacology

Associated Chemicals: Anti-Anxiety Agents (0) ; GABA Modulators (0) ; Muscarinic Antagonists (0) ; Scopolamine (51-34-3) ; Lorazepam (846-49-1)

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.