Turning up the Noise or Turning Down the Volume? On the Nature of the Impairment of Episodic Recognition Memory by Midazolam

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2004

Keywords

episodic recognition memory, memory impairment, midazolam, word-frequency effect, retrieving-effectively-from-memory, memory retrieval

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.30.2.540

Abstract

E. Hirshman, J. Fisher, T. Henthom, J. Amdt, and A. Passanname (2002) found that Midazolam disrupts the mirror-patterned word-frequency effect for recognition memory by reversing the typical hit-rate advantage for low-frequency words. They noted that this result is consistent with dual-process accounts (e.g., R. C. Atkinson & J. F. Juola, 1974; G. Mandler, 1980; A. P. Yonelinas, 1994) of the word frequency effect for recognition memory (S. Joordens & W. E. Hockley. 2000; L. M. Reder et al.. 2000). The present authors show that this finding is also consistent with a variety of single-process, retrieving effectively- from-memory (REM) models (R. M. Shiffrin & M. Steyvers, 1997), the simplest of which assumes that Midazolam decreases the accuracy with which memory traces are stored. These findings therefore do not discriminate between single- and dual-process models of recognition memory.

Was this content written or created while at USF?

No

Citation / Publisher Attribution

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v. 30, issue 2, p. 540-549

Share

COinS