Cholinergic blockade and human information processing: are we asking the right questions?

This paper reviews the literature on the effect of cholinergic blockade on human information processing, within the context of current debate concerning the relationship between deficits in attention and memory tasks. It questions whether we are making the most of the tools available to us and the opportunities there are to explore not only the neurochemical correlates of psychological function, but also the cognitive models on which the psychopharmacological research feeds. Current theoretical issues within cognitive psychology are discussed, and the drug studies are re-evaluated in terms of the resource model of information processing, which focuses on issues of automaticity of processes, and resource availability, rather than modular dissociations between attention and memory.