Lack of retrograde amnesia effects of repeated electroconvulsive shock and carbon dioxide treatments.

Abstract

ECS given to rats 30 sec. after a footshock (FS) in a Skinner box produced retrograde amnesia scores similar to those previously reported. Repetition of the FS-ECS treatment a day later resulted in little or no amnesia. Exp. II repeated the training-treatment procedure using a drinking box apparatus, and confirmed the results of Exp. I. Exp. III, using the same apparatus and procedure as Exp. II, employed carbon dioxide (CO2) in place of ECS. It was again found that the 1st FS-CO2 treatment resulted in apparent amnesia, but the 2nd FS-CO2 did not. Results are discussed in terms of conditioned emotional response suppression vs. amnesias as the effect of an ECS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)