Impaired reproduction of three-dimensional objects by cocaine-dependent subjects.
This study employed a perceptual-motor task of figure copying in 27 cocaine-dependent, 26 marijuana-abusing or dependent, and 33 healthy subjects. Cocaine-dependent and healthy individuals did not differ in their scores on the copying of a two-dimensional diamond and a cross. In contrast, cocaine-dependent subjects displayed significantly poorer ability to copy a three-dimensional Necker cube, a smoking pipe, a hidden line elimination cube, a pyramid, and a dissected pyramid. Marijuana users' performance on all copied figures was comparable to that of the healthy comparison subjects. Considering that decreased three-dimensional copying ability has been found to be associated with fatal injuries, further studies are needed to investigate possible underlying mechanisms (e.g., parietal lobe damage) and their role in the pathophysiology of cocaine dependence.
Elman
Igor
I
Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill St., Belmont, MA 02478-9106, USA. ielman@partners.org
Chi
Won H
WH
Gurvits
Tamara V
TV
Ryan
Elizabeth T
ET
Lasko
Natasha B
NB
Lukas
Scott E
SE
Pitman
Roger K
RK
D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D004493:Education; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*