Different effects of lorazepam and diazepam on perceptual integration

Recent research has established the detrimental effect of lorazepam, a benzodiazepine, on both implicit and explicit memory. Furthermore, lorazepam is known to affect perceptual integration. Diazepam, on the other hand, though being a benzodiazepine too, only impairs explicit memory, leaving implicit memory fairly intact. Little is known about the effect of diazepam on perceptual integration. The present study aimed at filling in this gap, by comparing the effects of lorazepam and diazepam on the detection of discontinuities in random-shaped outlines. In line with previous findings, the results in a lorazepam-treated group were quite different from the results in a placebo-treated group. The results in a diazepam-treated group were analogous to the results in the placebo-treated group and different from the results in the lorazepam-treated group. This shows that lorazepam and diazepam differ, not only with respect to their effect on implicit memory, but also with respect to their effect on perceptual integration. It is argued that this bears important consequences for memory research that makes use of a pharmacological dissociation rationale. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.