Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Hendriks, Peter A

Titel

The effects of inert gas narcosis on long-term memory input and retrieval mechanisms

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

1982

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of inert gas narcosis on LTM (long-term memory). Using a repeated measures design, twelve subjects breathing air or a 35% N$\sb2$O (nitrous oxide) - 65% O$\sb2$ (oxygen) mixture were required to rehearse aloud during a multitrial free recall task. LTM was assessed in terms of (a) memory organization using the ARC' (Adjusted Ratio of Clustering) measure, (b) rehearsal using measures of frequency and item seleclion and (c) retrieval using a delayed, forced-choice recognition procedure. Inter-response times (IRTs) between recalled words were also recorded. As expected, learning was impaired by N$\sb2$O but the number of recall errors was not affected. The results showed that neither air nor N$\sb2$O produced a change in the ARC' scores over trials but narcosis slowed rehearsal and the number of different items used in rehearsal decreased. Also, the difference between recognition and recall performance significantly increased when the subjects were narcotic. In addition, no between gas difference was detected in the IRTs of recalled items. It was concluded that the rehearsal process but not memory organization could be implicated in the learning deficits associated with narcosis. Also, with respect to the comparison of recall and recognition, retrieval from LTM may be disrupted by N$\sb2$O although methodological difficulties preclude a clear cut conclusion. Finally, the disparity of recall between air and N$\sb2$O cannot be explained by a slowing of IRTs.