Unconscious memory formation during anaesthesia.
Do patients form memories of intra-operative events when they are adequately anaesthetized? Studies of memory priming during anaesthesia with depth or awareness monitoring provide some evidence that they do, although only the most basic form of memory function, perceptual priming, persists when patients are unconscious. The probability of memory encoding increases as depth of anaesthesia decreases. There is a theoretical possibility that patients can be adversely affected, through memory priming, by comments made in the operating theatre, and some evidence that positive intra-operative suggestions can benefit patients.
Andrade
Jackie
J
Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK j.andrade@plymouth.ac.uk
Deeprose
Catherine
C
D000768:Anesthesia, General; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative / Q000379:methods*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010465:Perception / Q000187:drug effects*; D014474:Unconsciousness / Q000523:psychology*