STATE-DEPENDENT RETRIEVAL AND CHLORPHENIRAMINE

State-dependent retrieval is demonstrated when material learned under drug is best recalled in that same drug state. To test whether state-d ependency can be induced by an antihistamine, we administered chlorphe niramine (AH) in a 'cross-over' design with four experimental conditio ns based on drug state at encoding and recall. These were AH-AH, AH-Pl acebo, Placebo-Placebo and Placebo-AH. There were three measures of re trieval: free recall of a list of 20 words, followed by cued recall of the same list of words and free recall of a short passage of informat ion. For all of these measures, state-dependency was demonstrated: sub jects performed better in the congruent (AH-AH and Placebo-Placebo) th an in the disparate (AH-Placebo and Placebo-AH) conditions. Given that their sedative effects are well known, many students take antihistami nes for the management of hay fever only as necessary. However, the cl ear implication of the present study is that intermittent use of chlor pheniramine may result in retrieval difficulties. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.