Selective effects of triazolam on memory for emotional, relative to neutral, stimuli: differential effects on gist versus detail.

Benzodiazepines are known to reduce learning and memory performance, presumably through their facilitation of GABAergic neurotransmission, but the effects of these drugs specifically on memory for emotional material has not been addressed in humans. The effects of a benzodiazepine (triazolam, 0.25 mg) on nonincidental memory for emotional stimuli were assessed in 20 healthy volunteers (10 female). Triazolam reduced the normally facilitative effect of emotion on memory. The drug specifically affected memory for the gist of stimuli while leaving detail memory relatively unaffected. This pattern of performance is similar to that seen in patients with amygdala damage. Results suggest an effect of GABAergic neurotransmission at the level of the amygdala on memory modulation.

[1]  L. Cahill,et al.  Sex-related impairment of memory for emotional events with β-adrenergic blockade , 2003, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.

[2]  John D E Gabrieli,et al.  Sex differences in the neural basis of emotional memories , 2002, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[3]  R. Adolphs,et al.  Verbal and nonverbal emotional memory following unilateral amygdala damage. , 2001, Learning & memory.

[4]  R. Adolphs,et al.  The amygdala's role in long-term declarative memory for gist and detail. , 2001, Behavioral neuroscience.

[5]  A. Anderson,et al.  Lesions of the human amygdala impair enhanced perception of emotionally salient events , 2001, Nature.

[6]  Tony W Buchanan,et al.  Enhanced memory for emotional material following stress-level cortisol treatment in humans , 2001, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[7]  H. Critchley,et al.  Neuroanatomical basis for first- and second-order representations of bodily states , 2001, Nature Neuroscience.

[8]  Steven G. Potkin,et al.  Sex-Related Difference in Amygdala Activity during Emotionally Influenced Memory Storage , 2001, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.

[9]  J. Gabrieli,et al.  Event-Related Activation in the Human Amygdala Associates with Later Memory for Individual Emotional Experience , 2000, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[10]  J. D. McGaugh,et al.  The contribution of pharmacology to research on the mechanisms of memory formation. , 2000, Trends in pharmacological sciences.

[11]  R. Adolphs,et al.  A Role for Somatosensory Cortices in the Visual Recognition of Emotion as Revealed by Three-Dimensional Lesion Mapping , 2000, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[12]  R. Blair,et al.  Selective impairment in the recognition of anger induced by diazepam , 1999, Psychopharmacology.

[13]  E. Phelps,et al.  Arousal-Mediated Memory Consolidation: Role of the Medial Temporal Lobe in Humans , 1998 .

[14]  J. D. McGaugh,et al.  Memory for emotional events: differential effects of centrally versus peripherally acting β-blocking agents , 1998, Psychopharmacology.

[15]  J. D. McGaugh,et al.  Interaction of neuromodulatory systems in modulating memory storage , 1997, Behavioural Brain Research.

[16]  Sophie K. Scott,et al.  Impaired auditory recognition of fear and anger following bilateral amygdala lesions , 1997, Nature.

[17]  D. Perrett,et al.  A differential neural response in the human amygdala to fearful and happy facial expressions , 1996, Nature.

[18]  J L McGaugh,et al.  Amygdala activity at encoding correlated with long-term, free recall of emotional information. , 1996, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[19]  A. Calder.  Facial emotion recognition after bilateral amygdala damage: Differentially severe impairment of fear , 1996 .

[20]  H. Curran,et al.  Psychopharmacological analysis of implicit and explicit memory: a study with lorazepam and the benzodiazepine antagonist flumazenil , 1995, Psychopharmacology.

[21]  R. Adolphs,et al.  Impaired recognition of emotion in facial expressions following bilateral damage to the human amygdala , 1994, Nature.

[22]  J. D. McGaugh,et al.  Midazolam administered to rats induces anterograde amnesia for changes in reward magnitude. , 1994, Behavioral neuroscience.

[23]  James L. McGaugh,et al.  β-Adrenergic activation and memory for emotional events , 1994, Nature.

[24]  J. D. McGaugh,et al.  Localization in the amygdala of the amnestic action of diazepam on emotional memory , 1993, Behavioural Brain Research.

[25]  I. Izquierdo,et al.  Neurotransmitter receptors involved in post-training memory processing by the amygdala, medial septum, and hippocampus of the rat. , 1992, Behavioral and neural biology.

[26]  Daniel Reisberg,et al.  Remembering emotional events , 1992, Memory & cognition.

[27]  J. Mcgaugh,et al.  Basolateral amygdala lesions block diazepam-induced anterograde amnesia in an inhibitory avoidance task. , 1992, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[28]  J. D. McGaugh,et al.  Amygdala lesions block the amnestic effects of diazepam , 1991, Brain Research.

[29]  Elizabeth F. Loftus,et al.  Remembering emotional events: the fate of detailed information , 1991 .

[30]  D. Reisberg,et al.  Vivid memories of emotional events: The accuracy of remembered minutiae , 1990, Memory & cognition.

[31]  John Brown,et al.  Absence of Priming Coupled with Substantially Preserved Recognition in Lorazepam-Induced Amnesia , 1989, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[32]  S. Shibata,et al.  Effects of benzodiazepine and GABA antagonists on anticonflict effects of antianxiety drugs injected into the rat amygdala in a water-lick suppression test , 1989, Psychopharmacology.

[33]  W. Stigelman,et al.  Goodman and Gilman's the Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics , 1986 .

[34]  L. Goodman,et al.  THE PHARMACOLOGICAL BASIS OF THERAPEUTICS , 1966 .

[35]  F. Craik,et al.  The Oxford handbook of memory , 2006 .

[36]  J. Gardiner,et al.  Effects of lorazepam upon recollective experience in recognition memory , 2005, Psychopharmacology.

[37]  O. Wolkowitz,et al.  Selective effects of triazolam on memory , 2005, Psychopharmacology.

[38]  R. Adolphs,et al.  Neurobiology of emotion at a systems level. , 2000 .

[39]  J. Borod.  The Neuropsychology of emotion , 2000 .

[40]  P. Lang,et al.  International Affective Picture System (IAPS): Instruction Manual and Affective Ratings (Tech. Rep. No. A-4) , 1999 .

[41]  H. Curren.  PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON MEMORY , 1997 .

[42]  E. Bullmore,et al.  Society for Neuroscience Abstracts , 1997 .

[43]  Ulric Neisser,et al.  Affect and accuracy in recall: Author index , 1992 .

[44]  Daniel Reisberg,et al.  Affect and accuracy in recall: Remembering the details of emotional events , 1992 .

[45]  E. Tulving.  Memory and consciousness. , 1985 .

[46]  W. Kintsch,et al.  Memory and cognition , 1977 .