PATTERN OF MEMORY LOSS RESULTING FROM INTRAVENOUSLY ADMINISTERED DIAZEPAM

A word recognition task given to human subjects was designed to determine the stage in memory affected by a single 10 mg i.v. injection of diazepam and the duration of the effect. Injection in 3 experimental subjects produced an anterograde amnesia for the 14-24 min period immediately after injection. Memory loss resulted from impaired storage, the stage during which information is entered into memory. Retention and retrieval stages of memory were unaffected. This temporary amnesia may result from increased inhibition in the hippocampal system produced by diazepam, which shares many properties with the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA.