Propranolol and response bias: An extension of findings reported by Corwin et al

Abstract

Data linking depression, beta noradrenergic blockade, and a conservative bias in decision making have been published by Corwin et al (1990). They reanalyzed data from a Sternberg memory manning (number recognition) task (Adler et al 1988), using a signal detection model (Snodgrass and Corwin 1988) and found that 12 weeks of treatmen'~ with proprano!o! caused hypertensive patients :~ :dopt a more conservafives bias (i.e., tended to say when uncertain). There were no other significant behavioral effects of the treatment. They presented this finding along with the report of an experiment showing that depressed patients adopt a conservative bias in a word__rec_o~_ifion task while, in con_ma~t, manJcs 2~opt a more liberal bias. While they emphasize the possible connection between 13-adrenergic function and affective disorders, the propranolol effect is interesting in its own right. Dimsdale, Newton, and Joist (1989) note the conflicting nature of the literature in their review of betablocker psychopharmacology.