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Abstract:
The benzodiazepine sedative/hypnotic triazolam [Halcion (R)]
produces deficits in memory which parallel those found in organic
amnesia, and may be a useful tool for exploring normal and abnormal
memory processes. In light of recent evidence suggesting that
amnesic patients produce lower false recognition rates than
controls, this study was designed to examine triazolam's effects on
performance in a paradigm in which non-amnesic subjects produce
exceptionally high rates of false recognition for words that had
not been presented during the study phase but that are
associatively related to words that had been presented. Twenty-four
healthy volunteers were tested in a double-blind repeated measures
crossover design in which they were administered acute oral doses
of triazolam (.125, .25 mg/70 kg) and placebo. Following drug
administration, subjects were presented with lists of words that
were associated with a word that was not presented (critical lure),
and were then given a recognition memory test. The results revealed
dose-related decreases in both true recognition (d' for presented
items) and false recognition (d' for critical lures), suggesting
that triazolam produces deficits in memory for both item-specific
and associative information. In addition, there was an interaction
between dose and item type suggesting that under placebo but not
active drug conditions, subjects remembered specific information
about presented items above and beyond the associative information
which supported recognition of critical lures.
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