Temporal and visual source memory deficits among ecstasy/polydrug users

Abstract

Objectives We wished to investigate whether source memory judgements are adversely affected by recreational illicit drug use. Method Sixty‐two ecstasy/polydrug users and 75 non ecstasy users completed a source memory task, in which they tried to determine whether or not a word had been previously presented and if so, attempted to recall the format, location and temporal position in which the word had occurred. Results While not differing in terms of the number of hits and false positive responses, ecstasy/polydrug users adopted a more liberal decision criterion when judging if a word had been presented previously. With regard to source memory, users were less able to determine the format in which words had been presented (upper versus lower case). Female users did worse than female nonusers in determining which list (first or second) a word was from. Unexpectedly, the current frequency of cocaine use was negative associated with list and case source memory performance. Conclusions Given the role that source memory plays in everyday cognition, those who use cocaine more frequently might have more difficulty in everyday tasks such as recalling the sources of crucial information or making use of contextual information as an aid to learning. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Substance abuse and susceptibility to false memory formation: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Three studies had samples where the male participants ranged between 40 and 60% (Maurage et al, 2011;Klein et al, 2013;Brion et al, 2017), and one (Reich et al, 2004) had a sample where only 23% of the participants were male. Studies focusing on ecstasy/polydrug users presented more evenly distributed samples regarding gender, with males representing between 50 and 60% of participants (Fox et al, 2001;Schilt et al, 2008;Fisk et al, 2014), even though in one of the studies (Fisk et al, 2014), the non-users group was mostly female (36% male). From the two studies on cannabis that provided data on gender distribution, one (Cuttler et al, 2021) presented between 50% and 70% of male representation across groups (average 56.3%) and the other (Kloft et al, 2019) over 80% on all but the control group (38%).…”

“…The studies were published between 1989 and 2021, with the following distribution per publication year: one study each year in 2021 (Cuttler et al, 2021), 2019 (Kloft et al, 2019), 2017 (Brion et al, 2017), 2015 (Riba et al, 2015), 2014 (Fisk et al, 2014), 2013 (Klein et al, 2013), 2011 (Maurage et al, 2011), 2003(Rocha and Albuquerque, 2003(Fox et al, 2001, 2000 (Gudjonsson et al, 2000), 1997 (Welch et al, 1997(Kramer et al, 1989; and two studies each year; in 2012 (Gallagher et al, 2012;Henry et al, 2012(Schilt et al, 2008Thoma et al, 2008(Gudjonsson et al, 2004Reich et al, 2004).…”

“…Six of the 18 studies were conducted in the United States (Kramer et al, 1989;Welch et al, 1997;Reich et al, 2004;Henry et al, 2012;Klein et al, 2013;Cuttler et al, 2021), three in the United Kingdom (Fox et al, 2001;Gallagher et al, 2012;Fisk et al, 2014), two in Iceland (Gudjonsson et al, 2000(Gudjonsson et al, , 2004, two in the Netherlands (Schilt et al, 2008;Kloft et al, 2019), and another two in Belgium (Maurage et al, 2011;Brion et al, 2017). The remaining three studies were conducted in the following countries: Portugal (Rocha and Albuquerque, 2003), Germany (Thoma et al, 2008), and Spain (Riba et al, 2015).…”

“…All four studies focusing on ecstasy/polydrug users (Fox et al, 2001;Schilt et al, 2008;Gallagher et al, 2012;Fisk et al, 2014) and two of the three studies with cannabis users (Kloft et al, 2019;Cuttler et al, 2021) presented a mean age between 20 and 30 years. One of the studies with ecstasy/polydrug users (Fox et al, 2001) separated the participants into those with a short and long-term history of use, presenting respective mean ages of 26.4 (SD = 5.9) and 30.7 (SD = 4.1).…”

Are There Neural Overlaps of Reactivity to Illegal Drugs, Tobacco, and Alcohol Cues? With Evidence From ALE and CMA

“…Nicotine abuse is strongly associated with the occurrence of sleep disorders, depression, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorders ( 5 ). The abuse of illegal drugs has even more serious consequences, as it can lead to acute or subacute leukoencephalopathy, as well as vascular complications, including vasoconstriction, vasculitis, and hypertension ( 6 ); it can also severely impair prospective memory—the higher the frequency of cocaine use, the stronger the degree of memory deficit ( 7 ).…”