DrugLib.com — Drug Information Portal

Rx drug information, pharmaceutical research, clinical trials, news, and more



Verbal fluency facilitated by the cholinergic blocker, scopolamine.

Author(s): Pompeia S, Rusted JM, Curran HV

Affiliation(s): Department of Psychobiology, UNIFESP, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Publication date & source: 2002-01, Hum Psychopharmacol., 17(1):51-9.

Publication type: Clinical Trial; Randomized Controlled Trial

This study was designed to explore putative facilitatory effects of low doses of scopolamine (SP) on phonemic (letter) and semantic (category) verbal fluency. A double-blind, parallel-group design was used with 36 subjects who completed a test battery before and 2 h after 0.6 mg or 1.2 mg of SP or placebo. Fluency measures included total number of words generated, clustering (the production of words within semantic or phonemic subcategories) and switching (the ability to shift efficiently to new subcategories). Low doses of scopolamine increased phonemic fluency, as has been shown previously. Semantic fluency was not increased by SP, although subjects treated with 1.2 mg of SP generated higher-frequency words. SP did not affect clustering or switching. It is suggested that phonemic and semantic fluency reflect distinct cognitive processes. Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Page last updated: 2006-01-31

-- advertisement -- The American Red Cross
 
Home | About Us | Contact Us | Site usage policy | Privacy policy

All Rights reserved - Copyright DrugLib.com, 2006-2017