Implicit memory for stimuli presented during inhalation anesthesia in children.

During general inhalation anesthesia, neutral phrases including either the color blue or yellow combined with one of two objects, ball or kite, were repeatedly presented to 36 children undergoing eye surgery. Postoperative testing with a coloring and two-choice task was performed to detect preferences for the colors and objects presented under anesthesia. No preference attributable to implicit memory could be demonstrated, and there was no explicit recollection of intraoperative events. Memory of intraoperative events occurring during inhalation anesthesia was not demonstrated with the present methodology in young children.