The effects of various oral doses (1, 2, 4 mg) of flunitrazepam on vigilance, attention, immediate memory, short-term memory, learning, non-consolidated and consolidated long-term memory were determined. Twelve healthy young male volunteers were given placebo or flunitrazepam in a double-blind, random latin-square sequence, crossing over every 2 weeks. Volunteers completed a battery of tests at night, 3.5 h after drug administration, and in the morning, 10 h after drug administration. Flunitrazepam 1 mg did not significantly impair any of the functions tested at night, while 4 mg impaired vigilance, attention, immediate memory, short-term verbal memory and learning. The impairments of immediate and short-term memory seem to be related and proportional to reductions in vigilance and attention. Doses of 2 mg and 4 mg impaired the speed of learning but did not decrease the amount of material learned. Flunitrazepam caused dose-related impairment of long-term memory, both consolidated and not. This reduction of long-term memory does not seem to be related to the impairments of vigilance, attention or learning. The lowest dose did not modify vigilance and learning in any subject, improved attention in half of the subjects but reduced long-term memory in a similar number of subjects. Therefore, our results indicate selective impairment of long-term memory. Since there were no differences between the effects on consolidated and non-consolidated memory, the amnesic effect of flunitrazepam seems to be due to a decrease in the storage of memory traces. There were no clear generalized residual effects in the morning after administration.

Pediatric chronic pain is a challenging problem for children and their families, although it is still under-recognized and under-treated. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a pain neuroscience education program for children (PNE4Kids) delivered to healthy children aged 8 to 12 years old and attended by their parents would result in improved parental knowledge about pain neurophysiology, decreased parental pain catastrophizing about their own pain and their children’s, decreased parental pain vigilance and awareness, and decreased fear of pain in children. Twenty-seven healthy child–parent dyads received a 45 min PNE4Kids session. Demographic data were collected, and the Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire (NPQ), Fear of Pain Questionnaire—Parent Proxy Report (FOPQ-P), Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), Pain Catastrophizing Scale for Parents (PCS-P), and the Pain Vigilance and Awareness Questionnaire (PVAQ) were completed by the parents before and after the PNE4Kids session. Twenty-six dyads completed study participation. In response to the PNE4Kids session, significant short-term (1 week) improvements were shown in the NPQ (p < 0.001) and the FOPQ-P (p = 0.002). Parents’ level of pain knowledge and children’s fear of pain, reported by their parents, improved after a 45 min PNE4Kids session. Thus, PNE4Kids should likewise be further investigated in healthy child–parent dyads as it might be useful to target parental and children’s pain cognitions at a young age.