Effects of scopolamine on stimulus sensitivity and response bias in a visual vigilance task.

Signal detection analysis was used to examine the effects of scopolamine on a visual vigilance task. A group of non-smokers performed the 60-min task on three separate occasions, receiving a different dose of scopolamine each time. Scopolamine significantly lowered stimulus sensitivity and prevented the rise in response bias which occurred over time in the placebo condition. In a second study methscopolamine was found to have no effect on either stimulus sensitivity or response bias, showing that peripheral cholinergic blockade was not involved in the effects of scopolamine on these measures. It is concluded (1) that in this study central cholinergic blockade disrupted vigilance performance by lowering stimulus sensitivity, and (2) that this finding provides further evidence that central cholinergic pathways are involved in the control of human information processing.