Cognition, Behavior, and Memory
Author: Candela Sofía Leon | email: cleon@itba.edu.ar
Candela S. Leon 1°2°, Matias Bonilla 1°2°, Facundo Urreta Benitez 1°2°, Jaqueline Toledo 4°, Natividad Olivar 4°, Luis I. Brusco 2°4°, Cecilia Forcato 1°2°
1° Laboratorio de Sueño y Memoria, Departamento de Ciencias de la vida, Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires (ITBA).
2° Centro de Neuropsiquiatría y Neurología de la Conducta- CENECON, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires.
3° Innocence Project Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
4° Centro de Neuropsiquiatría y Neurología de la Conducta- CENECON, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad de Buenos Aires.
The recognition memory is essential in judicial decisions. However, memory is malleable and can lead to false memories. Furthermore, different neurotransmission systems modulate memory processes, being the GABAergic a fundamental one. There is broad consensus that Benzodiazepines impair encoding, but there are disparate results regarding its role in consolidation: It was observed that consolidation was impaired in aversive memories, while in neutral declarative memories it favors consolidation and reconsolidation. Additionally, given the high consumption of anxiolytics and that, in turn, they are prescribed to reduce the witness/victim anxiety, it is important to investigate this effect. Thus, considering that memory of a criminal act is generally aversive, we hypothesize that consolidation will be impaired by this drug. To assess this, a double-blind paradigm of two days was designed. On day 1, people watched a video of a robbery, and then consumed a pill of clonazepam 0.25 mg/placebo. One week later, memory was assessed using a culprit present and a culprit absent lineup. Preliminary results indicated no differences for the culprit present lineup. However, in the culprit absent lineup, it was observed a trend that could indicate that clonazepam negatively affects correct rejections, leading to more innocents being chosen. This possible deficit may be relevant in the judicial field to assess the reliability of eyewitnesses’ choices.