Yahoo has clips from a recent 60 minutes special posted online on using propanolol to 'weaken' the memories associated with highly stressful events. Propanolol is a beta blocker, and epinephrine is a beta agonist. All sorts of beta receptors in the amygdala, which is the next door neighbors with the hippocampus; presently thought of as the seat of memory.
If you're teaching a psychopharmacology class, here's another chance to show a movie in class. Another popular take on the article is here, and the published article in Biological Psychology is here.
it's good that beta blockers help those who have hypertension but in the long run it decreases memory retention, too bad....but we have to weigh the advantages.
Posted by: Chicago Attorney | January 29, 2009 at 04:02 AM