Thus, Williams said, tests of memory, attention and learning must be tailored to individuals, a process that is highly labor intensive. The study will involve 50 people with mild and moderate retardation, who will take the tests when they are both on and off medication. In the past, such people might have taken drugs like thorazene and haldol to control their destructive behavior, Williams said. Under the grant, the KU team will study how the atypical neuroleptics affect the mental and social skills of people with retardation, as well as their destructive behavior. Such people frequently take anti-epileptic drugs, too, Williams said.
Some evidence suggests that different drugs affect different mental capacities.
For example, older neuroleptics may impair learning more than memory. Or one drug may affect attention more than another. This site is maintained by University Relations, the public relations office for the University of Kansas Lawrence campus. Copyright 1997, the University of Kansas Office of University Relations, Lawrence, KS, U.S.A. Images may be reused with notice of copyright, but not altered. KU news releases may be reprinted without permission.