HUMAN BEHAVIORAL PHARMACOLOGY OF BENZODIAZEPINES - EFFECTS ON REPEATED ACQUISITION AND PERFORMANCE OF RESPONSE CHAINS

One scientific concern with benzodiazepine is their effects on learning (acquisition). One procedure that permits a detailed study of learning processes is the repeated acquisition of behavioral chains procedure. The repeated acquisition of behavioral chains allows for the repeated study of learning in individual subjects and also permits a comparison with comparable performance behavior. This paper reviews the effects of acute and chronic benzodiazepines on the repeated acquisition and performance of response chains. With acute administration, diazepam, alprazolam, and triazolam are all found to produce dose‐related increases in percent errors in the acquisitions component, while generally not affecting percent errors in the performance component. Diazepam showed less activity than either alprazolam or triazolam. With chronic administration, acquisition showed tolerance to the errors‐increasing effects of diazepam at a slower rate than did performance. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 1990 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.