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The Effect of Beta Adrenergic Blocking Drugs on Speakers' Performance and Memory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

L R. Hartley ,
S. Ungapen ,
I. Davie  and
D. J. Spencer
L R. Hartley
Affiliation:
Murdoch University, West Australia 6160
S. Ungapen
Affiliation:
Heathcote Hospital, West Australia 6153
I. Davie
Affiliation:
Heathcote Hospital, West Australia 6153
D. J. Spencer
Affiliation:
Heathcote Hospital, West Australia 6153
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Summary

Propranolol 40 mg was compared with a matched placebo tablet in its effect on the performance of anxious and non-anxious human volunteers. Subjects were required to give a brief speech, which was video-taped and later rated by trained observers for signs of anxiety; propranolol clearly reduced rated anxiety in the non-verbal behaviour of anxious subjects, as well as the anxiety observed in the speech of the anxious compared to the non-anxious. It also affected self-reported anxiety in the anxious, and reduced the pulse rate of anxious and non-anxious alike. Subjects were also prompted, by being given the first letter, to recall both difficult and easy words, drawn from selected verbal categories; propranolol impaired recall of difficult items in the memory of anxious subjects. Results were interpreted as showing a central as well as peripheral role for propranolol in blocking adrenergic receptors' activity in anxiety.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 142 , Issue 5 , May 1983 , pp. 512 - 517
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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