Examining Working Memory and Attention in Adolescent and Young Adult Cannabis Users After Monitored Abstinence Period

Mentor 1

Krista Lisdahl

Start Date

10-5-2022 10:00 AM

Description

Adolescence is a time of critical brain development as well as cannabis use is widely used among adolescents and youth. Thus, it’s important to investigate the effects of cannabis use on neuropsychological changes. Previous studies have shown that cannabis use is associated with decreased executive functioning such as poorer performance on tasks of verbal learning, sustained attention, impulse control, and motor function. However, more research is needed on the impact of cannabis use after an abstinence period on attention and working memory tasks. This study aims to assess the relationship between cannabis use on working memory performance after a period of monitored abstinence among youth. We hypothesized that cannabis users will have lower scores on a working memory task compared to non-cannabis users. 75 participants (36 cannabis users, 39 control) who used cannabis once per week in the past year (100 lifetime) completed five sessions including behavioral questionnaires, neurocognitive tasks, and underwent a three week monitored abstinence period. The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) was used to measure working memory and attention. An ANCOVA was run to predict how cannabis use predicted PASAT scores while controlling for sex, past year alcohol and nicotine use. Our findings suggest no statistically significant differences among cannabis users and non-cannabis users on PASAT scores after three weeks of abstinence. Results demonstrate that there was no significant difference between performance on the PASAT among cannabis users and controls. While previous research has suggested cannabis use is associated with executive functioning impairments, our study suggests that after a three-week abstinence period, deficits in attention and working memory may experience recovery. Future research should investigate longitudinal studies among youth to determine causality.

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
May 10th, 10:00 AM

Examining Working Memory and Attention in Adolescent and Young Adult Cannabis Users After Monitored Abstinence Period

Adolescence is a time of critical brain development as well as cannabis use is widely used among adolescents and youth. Thus, it’s important to investigate the effects of cannabis use on neuropsychological changes. Previous studies have shown that cannabis use is associated with decreased executive functioning such as poorer performance on tasks of verbal learning, sustained attention, impulse control, and motor function. However, more research is needed on the impact of cannabis use after an abstinence period on attention and working memory tasks. This study aims to assess the relationship between cannabis use on working memory performance after a period of monitored abstinence among youth. We hypothesized that cannabis users will have lower scores on a working memory task compared to non-cannabis users. 75 participants (36 cannabis users, 39 control) who used cannabis once per week in the past year (100 lifetime) completed five sessions including behavioral questionnaires, neurocognitive tasks, and underwent a three week monitored abstinence period. The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) was used to measure working memory and attention. An ANCOVA was run to predict how cannabis use predicted PASAT scores while controlling for sex, past year alcohol and nicotine use. Our findings suggest no statistically significant differences among cannabis users and non-cannabis users on PASAT scores after three weeks of abstinence. Results demonstrate that there was no significant difference between performance on the PASAT among cannabis users and controls. While previous research has suggested cannabis use is associated with executive functioning impairments, our study suggests that after a three-week abstinence period, deficits in attention and working memory may experience recovery. Future research should investigate longitudinal studies among youth to determine causality.