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what substances can prevent recording of short term memory becides THC?

>>Selective α3 agonists are non sedating and non amnestic, purely anxiolytic (and anticonvulsant I think?)
>>

Really? What are some example agonists?

>>My main issue is with cognitive function. It seems that anti-cholinergics can be slightly cognitively deleterious and can make you physically sluggish (not as bad as potent GABA/sympathetic nervous system antagonists) during the day.>>

A long shot, but supplementing with lecithin (contains a precursor to acetylcholine) may help.

>>ps. I am still convinced that analysis via catecholamines isn't the correct explanation for memory issues. I believe it has more to do with large-scale neuro-endocrine changes.>>

Well...I'm guessing that there are multiple neuro-chemical "chains" that all support hippocampal activity, perhaps in different ways or domains. Thus, there'd be multiple ways to intervene with the formation of long-term memory.

This is bracketing aside the possibilities of wrecking STM (to hinder transfer and storage into and in LTM) or erasing LTM directly (not that we know how LTM works at all, really).
...
1. I wonder if its the case the the effect of psychedelics and stimulants on memory relates to their respective tendencies to dilate and constrict time...or perhaps their effects on anxiety.
2. Might a selective GABA antagonist improve the formation of new LTMs? Could it be made selective enough that it isn't anxiogenic?

ebola
 
ebola? said:
>>Selective α3 agonists are non sedating and non amnestic, purely anxiolytic (and anticonvulsant I think?)
>>

Really? What are some example agonists?
Click to expand...

The only ones I'm aware of are

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpidem

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adipiplon

Interestingly though adipiplon is being researched for insomnia, so how "non-sedating" it will turn out to be is debateable. Alpidem was apparantly quite a good anxiolytic with little or no sedation, pity it caused liver failure and so was withdrawn from the market.

Some other purportedly non-sedating anxiolytics are

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretazenil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidazenil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagoclone

but as you can see none of these drugs has been developed for medical use.
 
looking for some info???

My husband is chronically ill and takes several meds daily. For the past several months his short-term memory has really deteriorated. Example....if I tell him something within the first hour after he wakes up in the morning I'm wasting my time because he just can't recall it - even later that same day - it's like it just doesn't register. And not just me telling him something - we will actually have a discussion about something - but then he has no recall. Also lately I sometimes have to say something to him repeatedly (3 times) before it seems he "gets" what I am saying. He is only 54, and believe me - it is NOT due to an OVERLOAD of meds because the man takes no more than prescribed and on most days LESS than he should be taking. Due to frequent hospitalizations and days that he just is unable to even get up and may not get all of his doses in - he has a STOCKPILE of MSContin and his other routine RX's so in no way can his memory difficulties be attributed to any overdosing or toxicity. I dispense all his meds to him so I know exactly what he takes. And also - these are meds he has been taking routinely for a really long time - he's been sick for seven years now. So that leaves me to just assume that the various health problems he has are beginning to cause the problems with his memory????

Anyone have an ideas?

Thanks.:\
 
We have to be sure that we are talking about the same stuff when we note types of memory. Here are the definitions as psychology casts them. They have been shown to be relatively modular in the brain:

sensory memory: I'm drawing a blank on the other name for this (fitting, lol! :)). This is the near-immediate "impression" that sensory-data makes on you. After any sensory stimulus appears, you hold a fading snapshot of what was going on for ~500 ms.

short-term memory/working memory: this is the stuff you hold in your head in the present as you think about it. On average, the capacity is small (~7 words or unfamiliar syllables or digits, ~3 visual objects), and it lasts for ~18 seconds, unless you "rehearse" the items to yourself to maintain their "memory". Capacity may be improved by chunking multiple objects into single objects, but such strategies are domain specific and tax other cognitive resources. Working memory is a crucial aspect of intelligence.

long-term memory:
this are things that you retain for later recall, in forms such as declarative facts and auto-biographical episodes. The capacity is seemingly unlimited although retreival is unrealiable and involves reconstruction. But, recent long term memory is not "short term memory". The methods for remembering where you were when 9/11 happened are fundamentally similar to how you remember what work was like during the day in the evening after.

"muscle memory": your ability to perform overlearned activities automatically, without the need to devote attention to them. This applies to both mental and physical tasks.

What we're talking about are drugs that hinder the formation of new long-term memory. It should also be noted that many inebriants compromise STM, altering LTM's content and making it "fuzzier".

ebola
 
DXM is really powerful at preventing short-term (and only short term) memory -- and only short-term. I'd say it's relatively the same dose-wise as deleriants, or poisonous levels of alcohol. I can't compare it to other dissociates, however.

It's the whole secret to DXM-euphoria, imo, but that's off-topic. I haven't begun research on memory function so I can't really add further (does anyone have reccomendations on basic or "entry level" literature?)


Caregiver:

my advice isn't really advanced enought for this forum, but I thought I'd offer some BDD style advice. Let me throw some scenarios out to you:

the drugs he's taking does effect short-term memory. did the dose on his presciption increase around the same he began having difficulty? if so, he may be able to get memory function back after he builds some tolerance, unless he's at the ceiling doses already.

if he's missing doses because the drug intoxicates him so much, it's possible he needs to switch to a lower dose.

express your concern about his behavior and encourage him to consult his doctor about this problem. the doctor should be knowledge about ways to help him, or if not, he should have access to medical databses. it could even be a symptom of a worsening medical condition.

caregiver, if you're seeking further feedback than this, you might start a thread in basic drug discussion or other drugs, or ask a mod to move your post over there. ADD has a narrow audience (i only check in here once a month!)
 
MDMA has been found to permanently reduce short term memory capacity recall by about 30% on average in a group of heavy eX-users. However, no other psychological parameter psychometrically tested for in that study out of about 35 was found to be significantly (>90 percent) impacted. Personally, I actually find this aftereffect somewhat pleasant.
 
For example, a list of 13 numbers between one and ten is read aloud in a metered fashion to the subjects and then the subject is asked to repeat as many as s/he can remember.

The drug naive average score was 10 correct out of a possible 13. The former ecstasy users group was 7 out of 13. Therefore, the ex-users were said to have a 30 percent reduction in short term memory capacity. The authors of the study then went on to say that this result nevertheless fell within the normal range.
 
Okay. The mechanisms underlying such results are ambiguous. The average for the control, 10 numbers, suggests either use of long-term memory recording and recall (albeit, in the very short term), chunking strategies, or recruitment of multiple types of short-term memory. Thus, the ex-user group must perform more poorly at one of these:
1. maintenance of STM.
2. encoding of LTM.
3. recall of recent LTM.
4. cognitive management (likely relating to attentional faculties).

ebola
 
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