Age of onset of cannabis use and decision making under uncertainty

Abstract

ObjectiveCannabis, like other substances, negatively affects health, inducing respiratory problems and mental and cognitive alterations. Memory and learning disorders, as well as executive dysfunctions, are also neuropsychological disorders associated to cannabis use. Recent evidence reveals that cannabis use during adolescence may disrupt the normal development of the brain. This study is aimed to analyze possible differences between early-onset and late-onset cannabis consumers.MethodWe used a task based on a card game with four decks and different programs of gains/losses. A total of 72 subjects (19 women; 53 men) participated in the study; they were selected through a purposive sampling and divided into three groups: early-onset consumers, late-onset consumers, and control (non-consumers). The task used was the “Cartas” program (computerized version based on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)), with two versions: direct and inverse. The computational model “Prospect Valence Learning” (PVL) was applied in order to describe the decision according to four characteristics: utility, loss aversion, recency, and consistency.ResultsThe results evidence worst performance in the IGT in the early-onset consumers as compared to late-onset consumers and control. Differences between groups were also found in the PVL computational model parameters, since the process of decision making of the early-onset consumers was more influenced by the magnitude of the gains-losses, and more determined by short-term results without loss aversion.ConclusionsEarly onset cannabis use may involve decision-making problems, and therefore intervention programs are necessary in order to reduce the prevalence and delay the onset of cannabis use among teenagers.

Exploring associations between early substance use and longitudinal socio-occupational functioning in young people engaged in a mental health service

“…In humans, earlier initiation of tobacco smoking has been associated with deficits in response inhibition [76], sustained attention [76], and working memory [71]. Likewise, earlier use of cannabis during adolescence has been associated with poorer performance on a number of cognitive tasks indexing decision-making [77], verbal IQ [78], impulsivity [79], executive functions [80, 81] and memory [82], with suggestions that cannabis use during adolescence may perturb developmental processes such as white matter development and synaptic pruning [83]. Importantly, many of these studies are cross-sectional and collect retrospective age of onset data, and there is a need for prospective and longitudinal studies tracking adolescents before and after initiation of substance use to clarify the links between brain health and adolescent substance use [84, 85].…”

Risky decision‐making as an antecedent or consequence of adolescent cannabis use: findings from a 2‐year longitudinal study

“…The majority of the studies examining associations between CU and DM have relied upon adult samples, while less is known about these relationships during adolescence. Poorer or riskier DM has been cross-sectionally documented among regular adolescent cannabis users [43,44], adolescents with CUD in full remission [45] and adults who initiated use during adolescence [46], with null results reported in only one cross-sectional [47] and one longitudinal study [48]. Similar to adult studies, findings from cross-sectional and prospective neuroimaging work suggest that adolescent chronic cannabis users show alterations in brain activation in regions such as the anterior cingulate cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex while performing DM tasks [37,45,49,50].…”

Reward learning capacity in a community sample of individuals who use cannabis.

“…Similarly, other studies assessing elements of reward learning have shown more impaired performance with higher chronicity frequency , THC potency and dependence . However, others have found no relationship with reward learning and severity of cannabis use parameters, mainly chronicity (Alameda-Bailén et al, 2018;Tamm et al, 2013;Verdejo-García et al, 2013). Studies in animal models have shown that THC, particularly in high doses, results in failure to develop reward associations in conditioned place preference paradigms, or even led to place aversion Sañudo-Peña et al, 1997;, and attenuated electrical self-stimulation (Katsidoni et al, 2013;Wiebelhaus et al, 2015).…”