Which statement about midazolam and memory is correct?

• A. It causes retrograde amnesia
• B. It permanently erases memory
• C. It causes anterograde amnesia
• D. It has no effect on memory

Answer: (C)

Midazolam’s memory effect is primarily anterograde amnesia: during the time the drug is active, encoding of new information is impaired, so the patient forgets events that occur after administration. This happens because benzodiazepines enhance GABA activity, dampening hippocampal encoding of new memories. The impairment is transient—memories formed before administration are preserved, and once the drug wears off, the ability to form new memories returns. It does not permanently erase memory, and it does not typically cause true retrograde amnesia.