Implicit learning during enflurane anaesthesia in spontaneously breathing patients?

Summary Forty‐one patients breathing spontaneously during enflurane anaesthesia were presented (via headphones) either with statements about common facts of some years ago, or new verbal associations, i.e. names of fictitious people. Postoperatively, there were no differences between the two groups in the responses to questions about the common facts or attribution of fame to the fictitious people. This finding suggests that unconscious learning and activation may not occur during enflurane anaesthesia without neuromuscular block.