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Alertness and memory after sleep deprivation and diazepam intake

Psychiatric Hospital Veldwijk, Department of Psychological Assessment, PO Box 1000, 3850 BA Ermelo, The Netherlands, NICI, Department of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, University of Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands

M. Tielemans

NICI, Department of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, University of Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands

A. Coenen

NICI, Department of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, University of Nijmegen, PO Box 9104, 6500 HE Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Benzodiazepines (BZDs) give rise to memory impairments. It has been questioned whether or not these impairments are related to the drug's sedative, alertness-reducing effects. Therefore, in this study, alertness was reduced in healthy subjects both pharmacologically (15 mg diazepam) and non-pharmacologically (24-h sleep deprivation, SD) in order to assess whether these manipulations both gave rise to memory impairments. Twelve subjects were tested using a repeated measures cross-over design. Drug administration was placebo- controlled and double-blind. A subjective alertness reduction was established after diazepam intake and even more after SD. Additionally, performance-disruptive effects were found on psychomotor tasks after both SD and diazepam intake. However, only diazepam, and not SD, impaired delayed recall of a word list and recall of paired associates. Thus a reduction in alertness, i.e. sedation, cannot fully account for BZD-induced memory impairments.

Key Words: alertness • benzodiazepines • memory • psychomotor performance • sedation • sleep deprivation

Journal of Psychopharmacology, Vol. 11, No. 3, 233-239 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/026988119701100306


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