Qualitative analysis of scopolamine-induced amnesia

✍ Scribed by Eric D. Caine; Herbert Weingartner; Christy L. Ludlow; Edward A. Cudahy; Susan Wehry

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1981
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 829 KB
• Volume: 74
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0033-3158
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00431761

✦ Synopsis

The neurochemistry of memory remains to be determined. Acetylcholine may be one of the nenotransmitters which mediates memory function, since the anticholinergic drug scopolamine produces amnesia in man. This study of scopolamine-induced memory deficits further defines those cognitive processes which are disrupted. The drug does not diminish attention, as assessed with an auditory vigilance task, or initial signal detection. More complex auditory decoding is affected, however. Scopolamine impairs aspects of initial memory acquisition (e. g., encoding and consolidation) and spontaneous memory retrieval. Retention is unaffected. Precise delineation of the neurochemistry of human memory will require comparative studies of amnesiaproducing compounds, systematically examining the neuropsychological processes impaired by each.

Key words" Scopolamine -Drug-induced amnesia -Memory and learning -Anticholinergic effects Clinical investigators and basic neurobiologists continue to seek a link between amnesia and specific neurochemical disruptions (Brazier 1979). Scopolamine, a cholinergic receptor blocker, has been the focus of intense investigation. It produces a predictably transient memory disorder in humans (