P Vidailhet1, J M Danion, C Chemin, M Kazès. 1. INSERM Unité 405, Département de Psychiatrie d'Adultes, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, France.
Abstract
RATIONALE: Lorazepam has been repeatedly shown to impair both explicit memory and perceptual priming, a form of implicit memory, in the visual domain. However, the effects of this benzodiazepine on priming in other perceptual domains, such as auditory priming, have never been explored. OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated whether the deleterious effects of lorazepam on perceptual priming are restricted to the visual domain, or if they could be extended to the auditory domain. METHODS:Thirty-two healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to two parallel groups, placebo and lorazepam 0.038 mg/kg. The drug was administered orally, following a double-blind procedure. In the same subjects, perceptual priming was assessed in the auditory and visual domains using similar word-stem completion tasks, and explicit memory was explored using a free-recall task. RESULTS:Lorazepam markedly reduced free-recall performance for visually and auditorily presented words. Lorazepam equally impaired visual and auditory priming. In the auditory word-stem completion task, prior presentation of a word facilitated perception of its stem in the placebo group. This facilitation effect was not observed in the lorazepam group. The lorazepam-induced impairment of priming was not due to sedation or explicit contamination. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the deleterious effects of lorazepam on priming are not restricted to the visual modality, but extend to the auditory modality.
RCT Entities:
RATIONALE: Lorazepam has been repeatedly shown to impair both explicit memory and perceptual priming, a form of implicit memory, in the visual domain. However, the effects of this benzodiazepine on priming in other perceptual domains, such as auditory priming, have never been explored. OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated whether the deleterious effects of lorazepam on perceptual priming are restricted to the visual domain, or if they could be extended to the auditory domain. METHODS: Thirty-two healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to two parallel groups, placebo and lorazepam 0.038 mg/kg. The drug was administered orally, following a double-blind procedure. In the same subjects, perceptual priming was assessed in the auditory and visual domains using similar word-stem completion tasks, and explicit memory was explored using a free-recall task. RESULTS:Lorazepam markedly reduced free-recall performance for visually and auditorily presented words. Lorazepam equally impaired visual and auditory priming. In the auditory word-stem completion task, prior presentation of a word facilitated perception of its stem in the placebo group. This facilitation effect was not observed in the lorazepam group. The lorazepam-induced impairment of priming was not due to sedation or explicit contamination. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the deleterious effects of lorazepam on priming are not restricted to the visual modality, but extend to the auditory modality.