title: Scopolamine and lorazepam exert different patterns of effects in a test battery assessing stages of information processing.
abstract: The effects of a single dose of scopolamine (0.5 mg) SC and of lorazepam (2.5 mg) PO were tested in two independent studies for their effects on performance in a psychometric battery which measured functions related to different stages of information processing. Attention and vigilance were measured by a continuous attention task and a vigilance task, respectively. Working memory and reasoning were evaluated by the rapid information processing and logical reasoning task; memory acquisition and storage were measured by pre- and post-drug immediate and delayed recall using visual material. The following pattern of effects was revealed; both scopolamine and lorazepam impaired performance in attentional and vigilance tasks as well as in the rapid information processing task significantly (P < 0.05) when compared with their own placebo; in the logical reasoning task lorazepam significantly prolonged the time required to solve a problem; scopolamine did not have any effect on this task. Scopolamine impaired performance in the immediate recall but left delayed recall unaffected; lorazepam impaired only delayed recall, immediate recall remaining unaffected. These data suggest that scopolamine at this dose impaired mostly attention and early stages of information processes; lorazepam at the dose tested impaired also the later acquisition and encoding aspects of memory.
authors.affiliation: Research Laboratories Schering AG, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Duka
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Redemann
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Voet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D008140:Lorazepam / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D012601:Scopolamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D012601:Scopolamine; D008140:Lorazepam