The effect of L-pyroglutamyl-L-alanine amide, a structural analog of nootropil, was studied in the passive and active conditioned avoidance tests in rats. The compound (1 mg/kg, i. p.) was shown to be able to improve the performance in the shuttle-box. This effect is selective because it is not followed by psychomotor stimulation. In experiments on undertrained animals in passive avoidance test the compound reveals its positive amnestic effect with its administration prior to, immediately after learning and prior to testing. This provides the evidence that the dipeptide activates all the phases of memory formation. The compound raises the amplitude of transcallosal responses in temporal associative area and S-1 and increases facilitation phase in the recovery cycle, being inactive in respect to primary somatosensory evoked responses in S-1. All the data obtained suggest the nootropil-like effect of the dipeptide. The analysis of the dipeptide by MR-spectrometry reveals its stability in the presence of serum or enterocyte enzymes.