The effects of a single dose of lorazepam on behavioural and procedural learning

TL;DRAbstract

Research shows that lorazepam impairs episodic memory and perceptual priming, with preservation of some types of procedural memory. Behavioural learning has been reported as impaired by lorazepam, however the mechanism of action is unclear. The objectives of this study were to compare the effects of lorazepam on behavioural learning and explicit and implicit memory tasks, whilst controlling for state dependent learning effects and the amount of behavioural learning. Sixty participants received lorazepam 2.5 mg (L) or placebo (P) orally in two assessment sessions a week apart (four groups n=15: LL, LP, PP, PL). Pre-drug and post-drug neuropsychological assessment in session 1 comprised the Rey Auditory Verbal Leaming Test (RAVLT), Controlled Oral Word Association (COWA), Digit Span and Word-Stem Completion Task. In sessions 1 and 2, procedural learning was measured by the Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) and behavioural learning by a behavioural learning task (BLT) The BLT is a computer

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