Duration of amnesia during sedation with diazepam and pentazocine: preliminary report.

Fifteen student volunteers participated in a study to determine the duration of amnesia obtained with diazepam and with pentazocine. The group that received pentazocine experienced only slight sedation and no amnesia. There was extreme variance in the level of sedation and in the incidence and duration of amnesia in the group that received diazepam. When amnesia occurred, it lasted for an average of 24 minutes. All students in the group that received a combination of diazepam and pentazocine were well sedated; the average duration of amnesia was 25 minutes.