EFFECTS OF ALPRAZOLAM ON COMPLEX HUMAN FUNCTIONING

Benzodiazepines can reduce anxiety, can have favorable effects upon sl eep, and may diminish problems that interfere with patients' quality o f life. On the other hand, these drugs can generate transient anterogr ade amnesia and may diminish aspects of task performance. Research on the impact of alprazolam and other ''tranquilizing'' drugs has general ly focused on tasks that remain below the complex efforts of manageria l or professional personnel. Alprazolam-induced reduction of anxiety u nder challenging conditions might aid complex task performance, yet an terograde amnesia might interfere. In the present research, managers p articipated in validated complex simulation tasks. In a double-blind, dual crossover design, placebo, 0.5 mg, or 1.0 mg alprazolam was admin istered on 2 occasions during the task day. Drug treatment diminished performance on measures that require sequential actions but improved p erformance on measures less subject to short term memory but more dete rmined by long-term style of functioning. Thus, depending on task requ irements, positive or negative alteration of performance might occur.