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

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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.

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Acknowledgements

SK was supported by a Wellcome Trust International Prize Travelling Research Fellowship. We thank Dr. Larry Cahill for providing us with a scoring system for central and peripheral elements of the narrative task.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, Sub-department of Clinical Health Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK

    Sunjeev K. Kamboj & H. Valerie Curran

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  1. Sunjeev K. Kamboj
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  2. H. Valerie Curran
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Correspondence to Sunjeev K. Kamboj.

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Kamboj, S.K., Curran, H.V. Neutral and emotional episodic memory: global impairment after lorazepam or scopolamine. Psychopharmacology 188, 482–488 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0552-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0552-7

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