The effects of benzodiazepines on short-term memory and information processing.

Abstract

The effects of flunitrazepam 1 mg, triazolam 0.25 mg, lormetazepam 1 mg and placebo on stages of information processing in a Sternberg memory scanning task were investigated in ten normal volunteers. Overall reaction times for the task were increased 1 h following treatment with triazolam and both 1 h and 10 h following treatment with flunitrazepam. Response latencies were not appreciably altered by lormetazepam or placebo. The effects of flunitrazepam and triazolam were found to be localised in the stimulus encoding and serial comparison stages of the reaction process and not in response-selection organisation.