Residual effects of benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine hypnotics on diurnal attention in a reaction time task

xiety and sleep disorders. However, they have frequently negative residual effects on tasks requering spatial and visual abilities and sustained attention. Moreover, benzodiazepines may provoke an impairment of motor responses, also altering the capacity to estimate the time (Bensimon et al., 1990; Bocca et al, 1999; Myzuki et al., 1987; Sierra et al., 1993). Consequently, the level of attention or vigilance of a subject is one of the variables more commonly examined in order to detect possible residual effects after administration of benzodiazepines. Cyclopirrolones (e.g., zopiclone) and imidazopiridines (e.g., zolpidem) are a new class of hypnotics structurally unrelated to the benzodiazepines (Noble, Langtru and Lamb, 1998; Priest et al., Residual effects of benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine hypnotics on diurnal attention in a reaction time task