Skip to main content
Log in

Dissociations in the expression of the sedative effects of triazolam

  • Original Investigation
  • Published:
Psychopharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Fifteen normal volunteers were administered 0.250, 0.375, and 0.500 mg of triazolam and placebo in a double-blind repeated measures cross-over design. Subjects demonstrated dose-dependent impairments in free recall, a test of explicit memory requiring awareness and reflection, and sedation as assessed by objective behavioral measures (the digit symbol substitution task) and subjective visual analogue scales. The sedative drug response did not account for the impairment in free recall. Differences in performance of the two tests of sedation indicated that the effect of this drug on reflective processes accounts for impairment in episodic memory and the inability to track the sedative effects of this drug at the higher doses tested in this study.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bond A, Lader M (1974) The use of analogue scales in rating subjective feelings. Br J Med Psychol 47:211–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Craik RIM, Morris LW, Morris RG, Loewen ER (1990) Relations between source amnesia and frontal lobe functioning in older adults. Psychol Aging 5[1]:148–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummings JL (1993) Frontal-subcortical circuits and human behavior. Arch Neurol 50:873–880

    Google Scholar 

  • Curran HV (1986) Tranquillising memories: a review of the effects of benzodiazepines on human memory. Biol Psychol, 23:179–213

    Google Scholar 

  • Curran HV, Schiwy W, Lader M (1987) Differential amnesic properties of benzodiazepines: a dose-response comparison of two drugs with similar elimination half-lives. Psychopharmacology, 92:358–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Danion J-M, Zimmermann M-A, Willard-Schroeder D, Grange D, Singer L (1989) Diazepam induces a dissociation between explicit and implicit memory. Psychopharmacology 99:238–243

    Google Scholar 

  • Danion JM, Zimmermann MA, Willard SD, Grange D et al. (1990) Effects of scopolamine, trimipramine and diazepam on explicit memory and repetition priming in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology 102(3):422–424

    Google Scholar 

  • Fang JC, Hinrichs JV, Ghoneim MM (1987) Diazepam and memory: Evidence for spared memory function. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 28:347–352

    Google Scholar 

  • File SE, Sharma R, Shaffer J (1992) Is lorazepam-induced amnesia specific to the type of memory or to the task used to assess it? J Psychopharmacol 6:76–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghoneim MM, Hinrichs JV, Mewaldt SP (1984) Dose-response analysis of the behavioral effects of diazepam: I Learning and memory. Psychopharmacology 82:291–295

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghoneim MM, Dembo JB, Block RI (1989) Time course of sedative and amnesic effects of diazepam by flumazenil. Anesthesiology 70:899–904

    Google Scholar 

  • Hommer DW, Matsuo V, Wolkowitz H, Chrousos G, Greenblatt D, Weingartner H, Paul S (1986) Benzodiazepine sensitivity in normal human subjects. Arch Gen Psychiatry 43:542–551

    Google Scholar 

  • Lister RG (1985) The amnesic action of benzodiazepines in man. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 9:87–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Lister RG, Weingartner H (1987) Neuropharmacological strategies for understanding psychobiological determinants of cognition. Human Neurobiol 6:119–127

    Google Scholar 

  • Molchan SE, Hill A, Weingartner HJ, Mellow JL, Vitello B, Martinez R, Sunderland T (1992a) Increased cognitive sensitivity to scopolamine with age and a perspective on the scopolamine model. Brain Res Rev 17:215–226

    Google Scholar 

  • Molchan SE, Mellow MA, Hill JL, Weingartner HJ, Martinez R, Vitiello B, Sunderland T (1992b) The effect of thyrotopin-releasing hormone and scopolamine in Alzheimer's disease and normal volunteers. J Psychopharmacol 6[4]:489–500

    Google Scholar 

  • Moscovitch M (1989) Confabulation and the frontal systems: strategic versus associative retrieval in neuropsychological theories of memory. In: Roediger IHL, Craik FIM (eds) Varieties of memory and consciousness: Essays in honour of Endel Tulving. Erlbaum, Hillsdole, pp. 133–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Norris H (1971) The action of sedatives on brain stem oculomotor systems in man. Neuropharmacology 10:181–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrides M (1989) Frontal lobes and memory. In: Boller F, Grafman J (eds) Handbook of neuropsychology. Elsevier, New York, pp 75–90

    Google Scholar 

  • Schacter DL (1987) Implicit memory: history and current status. J Exp Psychol [Learn Mem Cognit 13:501–518

    Google Scholar 

  • Shallice T (1988) From neuropsychology to mental structure Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

  • Sherry DF, Schacter DL (1987) The evolution of multiple memory systems. Psychol Rev 94:439–454

    Google Scholar 

  • Squire LR, Zola MS (1988) Memory: brain systems and behavior. special issue: learning and memory. Trends Neurosci 11[4]:170–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Tulving E (1987) Multiple memory systems and consciousness. Human neurobiology 6:67–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Tulving E, Schachter DL (1990) Priming and human memory systems. Science 247:301–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler D (1955) Wechsler adult intelligence scale manual. Psychological Corporation, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Weingartner H, Buchsbaum MS, Linnoila M (1983a) Zimelidine effects on memory impairments produced by ethanol. Life Sci 33[22]:2159–2163

    Google Scholar 

  • Weingartner H, Grafman J, Boutelle W, Kaye W, Martin PR (1983b) Forms of memory failure. Science 221[4608]:380–382

    Google Scholar 

  • Weingartner HJ, Eckardt M, Hommer D, Wolowitz O (1991) Specificity of memory impairments with triazolam use. Lancet 338:883–884

    Google Scholar 

  • Weingartner HJ, Hommer D, Lister RG, Thompson K, Wolkowitz O (1992) Selective effects of triazolam on memory. Psychopharmacology 106:341–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Weingartner HJ, Joyce EM, Sirocco KY, Adams CM, Eckardt MJ, George T, Lister RG (1993) Specific memory and sedative effects of the benzodiazepine triazolam. J Psychopharmacol 7(4):305–315

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolkowitz OM, Weingartner H, Thompson BS, Pickar D, Paul SM, Hommer DW (1987) Diazepam-induced amnesia: a neuropharmacological model of an “organic amnestic syndrome.” Am J Psychiatry 144:25–29

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Weingartner, H.J., Sirocco, K., Rawlings, R. et al. Dissociations in the expression of the sedative effects of triazolam. Psychopharmacology 119, 27–33 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02246050

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02246050

Key words

Navigation