Selective effects of clonidine and temazepam on attention and memory
Abstract
The present study compared the effects of clonidine and temazepam on performance on a range of tasks aiming to assess the role of central noradrenergic mechanisms in cognitive function. Fifteen healthy volunteers (seven male, eight female), aged 18-25 years, took part in a five-period crossover study in which they received placebo, temazepam (15 and 30 mg) and clonidine (150 and 300 microg) by mouth in counterbalanced order in sessions at least 4 days apart. A test battery was administered before treatment and at 45, 90 and 135 min after the dose. Performance on most tests was significantly impaired in a dose-related fashion, and subjective sedation was recorded for both drugs. The greatest impairments with clonidine were on attention in the presence of distractors. Clonidine did not affect the formation of new long-term memories, in contrast to temazepam, but did impair measures of working memory. Subjective effects, especially feelings of drunkenness and abnormality, were particularly marked with clonidine. These results support the suggestion that central noradrenergic function may be involved in preventing distraction, but do not confirm other reports suggesting that some aspects of performance are improved with clonidine.
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Impaired attention (as well as memory, working memory, reaction time and psychomotor function) has been observed after clonidine in neurotypical adults.
“While only one of these studies reported reduced cognitive performance in a WM task (43), impaired attention (as well as memory, working memory, reaction time and psychomotor function) has been observed after clonidine in neurotypical adults (78, 79), which similarly to guanfacine, is also an α2-adrenergic receptor agonist and can cause sedation.”
From Differential effects of a single dose of Lisdexamfetamine and Guanfacine on cognitive function in children with ADHD (2025) · cites this paper as [79]
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BOND, A., & LADER, M. (1974) · British Journal of Medical Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.2044-8341.1974.tb02285.x · Cited by 1,972 · see citing works
Experimental designs balanced for the estimation of residual effects of treatments
Williams, E. (1949) · Australian Journal of Scientific Research Series A Physical Sciences · doi:10.1071/ch9490149 · Cited by 1,104 · see citing works
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Linking ADHD to the Neural Circuitry of Attention
Mueller, A., Hong, D. S., Shepard, S., & Moore, T. (2017) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2017.03.009 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
El Masri, S., Kowalczyk, O. S., Chiu, T. H., Criaud, M., Lukito, S., Mazibuko, N., Salazar de Pablo, G., Perez Rodriguez, V., Makos, O., Lam, S.-L., et al. (2025) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1676472
- Authors
- Tiplady, B., Bowness, E., Stien, L., & Drummond, G.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- Venue
- Journal of Psychopharmacology
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2005-05
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 259-265
- ISSN
- 0269-8811 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7285
- OpenAlex
- W2160182280
- Cited by
- 45
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Psychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and Work-Related Fatigue
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Keywords
- clonidine, temazepam, attention, memory, working memory, long-term memory formation, cognitive impairment, distraction, sedation, subjective effects, alpha-2 adrenergic agonists, benzodiazepines
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adrenergic alpha-Agonists, Adult, Attention, Clonidine, Cognition, Double-Blind Method, Female, Handwriting, Humans, Male, Memory, Memory, Short-Term, Neuropsychological Tests, Psychomotor Performance, Reaction Time, Temazepam, Anti-Anxiety Agents, Cross-Over Studies
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