Premium
Comparison of the effects of secobarbital and diazepam on the repeated acquisition of response sequences in humans
Author(s) -
Higgins Stephen T.,
Stitzer Maxine L.
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
drug development research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1098-2299
pISSN - 0272-4391
DOI - 10.1002/ddr.430200106
Subject(s) - secobarbital , diazepam , placebo , psychology , anesthesia , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , pentobarbital
The present study was conducted to compare the acute effects of secobarbital (0–300 mg) and diazepam (0–30 mg) on learning in normal volunteers. The repeated acquisition of behavioral chains procedure was used to assess learning. Subjects were exposed to varying doses of secobarbital, diazepam, and placebo under double‐blind conditions. Both compounds increased overall percent errors and decreased overall response rates as an orderly function of dose. No statistically significant differences were observed between these two compounds in onset, magnitude, or duration of effects. As expected, potency differences were observed with diazepam being approximately 10 times more potent than secobarbital. Overall these results indicate that secobarbital and diazepam produce a comparable profile of effects in humans responding under a repeated acquisition of behavioral chains procedure. Thus, with regard to learning impairment, the liability associated with using or abusing secobarbital vs. diazepam appears to be the same.