Comparison of the Subjective and Amnestic Effects of Diazepam and Amobarbital in Healthy Young Men

Changes in subjective responses and a test of immediate free‐recall were evaluated in a sample of 10 healthy young men following challenges with placebo, intravenous diazepam, and intravenous sodium amobarbital. Both central nervous system depressants produced significant impairment on the memory task; however only diazepam did so in a dose‐dependent manner. Despite producing nearly identical subjective effects, diazepam administration led to significantly greater impairment on the free‐recall test than did amobarbital across both dose ranges. These findings suggest that at doses that cause similar subjective effects, diazepam may have a greater amnestic potential than amobarbital.