Limited memory impairment after temazepam

Abstract

In order to examine the effects of temazepam on memory, a battery of cognitive tests and analogue mood ratings were given to healthy volunteers after oral administration of 5, 10 and 30 mg. The lowest dose had no effect and 10 mg only significantly increased self-ratings of well-being. Temazepam (30 mg) significantly improved recall of items learned prior to drug administration, but impaired recall and recognition of word lists acquired after drug administration. However, when retrieval was assessed indirectly using a backwards reading task there was no impairment, indicating that automatic information processing was unaffected. Temazepam (30 mg) significantly reduced self-ratings of anxiety and increased those of sedation. It also significantly impaired performance in symbol copying, digit-symbol substitution and number cancellation tasks. It is striking that, at a dose that was sedative and impaired many aspects of performance, temazepam nonetheless improved retrieval of items learned prior to drug administration. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.