Neuropsychological consequences of alcohol and drug abuse on different components of executive functions

Abstract

Several studies have shown alterations in different components of executive functioning in users of different drugs, including cannabis, cocaine and heroin. However, it is difficult to establish a specific association between the use of each of these drugs and executive alterations, since most drug abusers are polysubstance abusers, and alcohol is a ubiquitous confounding factor. Moreover, in order to study the association between consumption of different drugs and executive functioning, the patterns of quantity and duration of drugs used must be considered, given the association between these parameters and the executive functioning alteration degree. Based on the multicomponent approach to executive functions, the aims of the present study were: (i) to analyse the differential contribution of alcohol versus cocaine, heroin and cannabis use on executive functions performance; and (ii) to analyse the contribution made by the severity of the different drugs used (quantity and duration patterns) on these functions in a sample of polysubstance abusers that requested treatment for cannabis-, cocaine- or heroin-related problems. We administered measures of fluency, working memory, analogical reasoning, interference, cognitive flexibility, decision-making and self-regulation to two groups: 60 substance-dependent individuals (SDIs) and 30 healthy control individuals (HCIs). SDIs had significantly poorer performance than HCIs across all of the executive domains assessed. Results from hierarchical regression models showed the existence of common correlates of the use of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine on verbal fluency and decision-making; common correlates of quantity of cannabis and cocaine use on verbal working memory and analogical reasoning; common correlates of duration of cocaine and heroin use on shifting; and specific effects of duration of cocaine use on inhibition measures. These findings indicate that alcohol abuse is negatively associated with fluency and decision-making deficits, whereas the different drugs motivating treatment have both generalized and specific deleterious effects on different executive components.

Executive functions in trauma-exposed youth: a meta-analysis

“…Arain et al, 2013). Exclusion criteria were: studies including participants with traumatic brain injury and current drug abuse, as these factors are known to influence executive functioning (Fernández-Serrano, Pérez-García, Schmidt Río-Valle, & Verdejo-García, 2010;Gioia, Isquith, Kenworthy, & Barton, 2002); studies that examined foster care or adopted youth but had no control group, as traumatic exposure varies widely in these samples and drawing conclusions is problematic without a reference group. Primary outcome measures pertained to working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control.…”

Impaired Decoding of Fear and Disgust Predicts Utilitarian Moral Judgment in Alcohol-Dependent Individuals

“…Alcohol-dependent individuals show deficits on decision-making tasks due in part to their impaired ability to attach emotional value to decision prospects (i.e., "myopia for the future") (Fernandez-Serrano et al, 2010;Park et al, 2010). Recent work has targeted these decision-making deficits in the domain of moral cognition (De Oliveira-Souza and Moll, 2009;Moran et al, 2012).…”

The Changing Landscape for Substance Use Treatment in the U.S

“…The overall understanding of addiction pathways and the effects of specific substances on psychological and behavioral functioning have advanced significantly in recent years. Frequent users of cocaine, methamphetamines, ecstasy, opiates, alcohol and cannabis exhibit deficits that are both generic to all substances as well as those that are specific to a particular drug [14]. For instance, cocaine is associated with verbal memory deficits and diminished cognitive flexibility; methamphetamines use with verbal memory deficits, poor cognitive planning; ecstasy with verbal memory deficits and reduction in inhibition; opiates with lower verbal fluency and alcohol, with reductions in visuospatial and working memory [15].…”