RESIDUAL EFFECTS (10 HOURS LATER) OF A SINGLE ORAL DOSE OF DIAZEPAM ON VIGILANCE

There is a general agreement regarding the deleterious residual sequel ae associated with benzodiazepine consumption. Most of these effects h ave been observed after repeated doses or a few hours after ingestion of the drugs. The goal of this experiment was to evaluate the sequelae of nocturnal ingestion of a single 10 mg dose of diazepam on attentio n 10 h after intake of the medication. 42 young, healthy subjects (21 females and 21 males) were divided for the application of three experi mental conditions (control, placebo and diazepam) following a counterb alanced plan. Reaction time to both periodic and nonperiodic stimuli a nd lack of responses (failures) were quantified. Diazepam increased re action time significantly, and produced a significant increase in the number of failures.