Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Advertisement
Journal of Psychopharmacology
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (4)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Müller, U.
Right arrow Articles by Bublak, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Müller, U.
Right arrow Articles by Bublak, P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Noradrenergic blockade and numeric working memory in humans

Ulrich Müller

Department of Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, Germany, and Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, um207{at}cam.ac.uk

Elisabeth Mottweiler

Max-Planck-Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany

Peter Bublak

Department of Psychology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany

To investigate the noradrenergic modulation of working memory in humans single doses of two ß-blockers [either 25 mg of propranolol (lipophilic) or 50 mg of atenolol (hydrophilic)] or placebo were administered to young healthy volunteers (16 subjects per drug condition) performing a numerical working memory task that requires either short-term maintenance or maintenance plus manipulation of visually presented four-number sequences. Higher manipulation costs (i.e. process-specific slowing of reaction times in the manipulation conditions compared to the control condition) were observed after propranolol but not after atenolol. The propranolol effect was mainly observed in subjects with low emotional arousal (i.e. low state anxiety rating at baseline). Because both ß-blockers induced a comparable decrease of blood pressure and pulse, the propranolol effect on the ‘working component’ of working memory is considered to be a central, presumably prefrontal one.

Key Words: anxiety • atenolol • ß-blocker • prefrontal • propranolol • working memory

Journal of Psychopharmacology, Vol. 19, No. 1, 21-28 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0269881105048888
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?




Advertisement