Brain battles: the ethical clash of neuroscience and the military

In 1997, a group of people were told a story and shown a slideshow about a series of events. In the middle of the story, a horrific car accident was described, but the beginning and ending portion of the story were emotionally neutral in context. One third of the group was given a placebo one hour before the story was told. One third of the group did not receive any drugs. And the last third received propranolol – a beta-adrenergic blocker typically used to decrease the effects of hypertension. A week later, the subjects who were given the placebo or no drugs at all remembered the emotional portion – the car accident – of the story well. However, those who received the propanolol scored lower on the memory test than any of the other participants.