title: Performance of young adult cannabis users on neurocognitive measures of impulsive behavior and their relationship to symptoms of cannabis use disorders.
abstract: Recent studies suggest that abstinent cannabis users show deficits on neurocognitive laboratory tasks of impulsive behavior. But results are mixed, and less is known on the performance of non-treatment-seeking, young adult cannabis users. Importantly, relationships between performance on measures of impulsive behavior and symptoms of cannabis addiction remain relatively unexplored. We compared young adult current cannabis users (CU, n = 65) and nonusing controls (NU, n = 65) on several laboratory measures of impulsive behavior, as well as on a measure of episodic memory commonly impacted by cannabis use. The CU group performed more poorly than the NU group on the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised Total Immediate Recall and Delayed Recall. No significant differences were observed on the measures of impulsive behavior (i.e., Iowa Gambling Task, IGT; Go-Stop Task; Monetary Choice Questionnaire; Balloon Analogue Risk Task). We examined relationships between neurocognitive performance and symptoms of cannabis use disorder symptoms (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition, DSM-IV CUD) among the CU group, which revealed that poorer IGT performance was associated with more symptoms of DSM-IV CUD. Our results show poorer memory performance among young adult cannabis users than among healthy controls, but no differences on measures of impulsive behavior. However, performance on a specific type of impulsive behavior (i.e., poorer decision making) was associated with more cannabis use disorder symptoms. These results provide preliminary evidence to suggest that decision-making deficits may be more strongly associated with problems experienced from cannabis use, rather than solely being a consequence of cannabis use, per se.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. raul.gonzalez47@fiu.edu
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Randi Melissa
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Robin J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Mermelstein
authors.forename: Jasmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vassileva
authors.forename: Eileen M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Kathleen R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Diviak
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002188:Cannabis; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007175:Impulsive Behavior / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D002189:Marijuana Abuse / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects; D012016:Reference Values; D055815:Young Adult