MDMA Impairs Both the Encoding and Retrieval of Emotional Recollections.

ABSTRACT: The psychoactive drug ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is increasingly used for its perceived emotional effects (eg, prosociality, empathy, psychotherapy), but surprisingly little research has been aimed at identifying the effect of the drug on emotional episodic memory in humans. Here, we report the first double-blind placebo-controlled study to examine the effects of MDMA on emotional memory separately during encoding and retrieval in healthy participants. Participants viewed emotionally negative, neutral, and positive pictures and their labels. Forty-eight hours later, they were given cued recollection and recognition memory tests designed to assess recollection and familiarity for the studied pictures. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups who received MDM

SUBMITTER: Doss MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5809786 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature