The differential relationship between cocaine use and marijuana use on decision-making performance over repeat testing with the Iowa Gambling Task.

Decision-making deficits are a robust cognitive correlate of substance abuse, but few studies have addressed the long-term differential associations of cocaine use and marijuana (MJ) use on decision-making. This study utilized the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a widely used measure of decision-making, to investigate the relationship between cocaine and MJ use and IGT learning. We analyzed between and within group differences across two consecutive testing sessions in abstinent users of either MJ or cocaine. We assessed long-term correlates of the use of these drugs by evaluating users after 25 days of enforced abstinence. Results showed that both cocaine users and MJ users performed worse than controls on the total IGT net score. All groups showed learning between Session 1 and Session 2, but the cocaine users showed the smallest increase in performance. The pattern of learning from the beginning to the end (block x block) of the IGT (Session 2) was different for the drug groups, with the cocaine group showing more learning than the MJ group. Dose-related measures of cocaine use (g/week) and MJ use (joints/week) predicted IGT performance (the heavier the drug use the lower the performance). Differential correlates of cocaine use and MJ use on decision-making learning may have important implications for the development of novel treatment interventions.

[1]  Thomas Babor,et al.  Cognitive functioning of long-term heavy cannabis users seeking treatment. , 2002, JAMA.

[2]  Karen I. Bolla,et al.  Neural substrates of faulty decision-making in abstinent marijuana users , 2005, NeuroImage.

[3]  Hanna Damasio,et al.  Decision-making and addiction (part I): impaired activation of somatic states in substance dependent individuals when pondering decisions with negative future consequences , 2002, Neuropsychologia.

[4]  Jerome R Busemeyer,et al.  Cognitive modeling analysis of decision-making processes in cocaine abusers , 2004, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[5]  Jeffrey N. Browndyke,et al.  Gender-specific vulnerability for rCBF abnormalities among cocaine abusers , 2004, Neuroreport.

[6]  V. Carey,et al.  Mixed-Effects Models in S and S-Plus , 2001 .

[7]  K I Bolla,et al.  Dose-related neurobehavioral effects of chronic cocaine use. , 1999, The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences.

[8]  George Fein,et al.  Neuropsychological performance of individuals dependent on crack-cocaine, or crack-cocaine and alcohol, at 6 weeks and 6 months of abstinence. , 2002, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[9]  A. Bechara,et al.  Cognitive function and mood in MDMA/THC users, THC users and non-drug using controls , 2006, Journal of psychopharmacology.

[10]  A. Verdejo‐Garcia,et al.  Cognitive impulsivity in cocaine and heroin polysubstance abusers. , 2007, Addictive behaviors.

[11]  William Gardner,et al.  Neurobehavioral disinhibition in childhood predicts early age at onset of substance use disorder. , 2003, The American journal of psychiatry.

[12]  P. C. Fletcher,et al.  Abnormal frontal activations related to decision-making in current and former amphetamine and opiate dependent individuals , 2005, Psychopharmacology.

[13]  A. Damasio,et al.  Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex , 1994, Cognition.

[14]  T. Robbins,et al.  Dissociable Deficits in the Decision-Making Cognition of Chronic Amphetamine Abusers, Opiate Abusers, Patients with Focal Damage to Prefrontal Cortex, and Tryptophan-Depleted Normal Volunteers: Evidence for Monoaminergic Mechanisms , 1999, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[15]  M. Selby,et al.  Neuropsychological functioning in drug abusers. , 1998, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[16]  A. Anderson,et al.  An fMRI study of stroop word-color interference: evidence for cingulate subregions subserving multiple distributed attentional systems , 1999, Biological Psychiatry.

[17]  D. Yurgelun-Todd,et al.  Neuropsychological performance in long-term cannabis users. , 2001, Archives of general psychiatry.

[18]  A. Damasio,et al.  Deciding Advantageously Before Knowing the Advantageous Strategy , 1997, Science.

[19]  G. Bartzokis,et al.  Abstinence from Cocaine Reduces High-Risk Responses on a Gambling Task , 2000, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[20]  C. Whitlow,et al.  Functional consequences of the repeated administration of Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol in the rat. , 2003, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[21]  M. Pérez-García,et al.  Strategic self-regulation, decision-making and emotion processing in poly-substance abusers in their first year of abstinence. , 2007, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[22]  W. Maier,et al.  Elevated impulsivity and impaired decision-making cognition in heavy users of MDMA (“Ecstasy”) , 2006, Psychopharmacology.

[23]  Karen I. Bolla,et al.  Abnormal brain activity in prefrontal brain regions in abstinent marijuana users , 2004, NeuroImage.

[24]  Jerome R. Busemeyer,et al.  Using Cognitive Models to Map Relations Between Neuropsychological Disorders and Human Decision-Making Deficits , 2005, Psychological science.

[25]  Joseph A Maldjian,et al.  Decreased gray matter concentration in the insular, orbitofrontal, cingulate, and temporal cortices of cocaine patients , 2002, Biological Psychiatry.

[26]  K I Bolla,et al.  Dose-related neurocognitive effects of marijuana use , 2002, Neurology.

[27]  E. Rolls,et al.  Abstract reward and punishment representations in the human orbitofrontal cortex , 2001, Nature Neuroscience.

[28]  Neil Burgess,et al.  The hippocampus, space, and viewpoints in episodic memory , 2002, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[29]  L. Robins,et al.  National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Its history, characteristics, and validity. , 1981, Archives of general psychiatry.

[30]  Marc A Schuckit,et al.  Decision making by methamphetamine-dependent subjects is associated with error-rate-independent decrease in prefrontal and parietal activation , 2003, Biological Psychiatry.

[31]  Eldad Yechiam,et al.  Application of a computational decision model to examine acute drug effects on human risk taking. , 2006, Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology.

[32]  A T McLellan,et al.  An Improved Diagnostic Evaluation Instrument for Substance Abuse Patients: The Addiction Severity Index , 1980, The Journal of nervous and mental disease.

[33]  Jeffrey C. Cooper,et al.  Functional magnetic resonance imaging of reward prediction , 2005, Current opinion in neurology.

[34]  J. Metcalfe,et al.  Neural Systems and Cue-Induced Cocaine Craving , 2002, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[35]  V L Villemagne,et al.  Activation of memory circuits during cue-elicited cocaine craving. , 1996, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[36]  Steven W Anderson,et al.  Decision-making deficits, linked to a dysfunctional ventromedial prefrontal cortex, revealed in alcohol and stimulant abusers , 2001, Neuropsychologia.

[37]  K. Fagerström,et al.  Measuring degree of physical dependence to tobacco smoking with reference to individualization of treatment. , 1978, Addictive behaviors.

[38]  D. Bates,et al.  Mixed-Effects Models in S and S-PLUS , 2001 .

[39]  Carlo Contoreggi,et al.  Drug abusers show impaired performance in a laboratory test of decision making , 2000, Neuropsychologia.

[40]  S. Faraone,et al.  A twin study of the neuropsychological consequences of stimulant abuse. , 2003, Archives of general psychiatry.

[41]  John A Matochik,et al.  Altered brain tissue composition in heavy marijuana users. , 2005, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[42]  Marc A Schuckit,et al.  Neural activation patterns of methamphetamine-dependent subjects during decision making predict relapse. , 2005, Archives of general psychiatry.

[43]  Marc A Schuckit,et al.  Behavioral and Functional Neuroimaging Evidence for Prefrontal Dysfunction in Methamphetamine-Dependent Subjects , 2002, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[44]  E. Crone,et al.  Heart rate and skin conductance analysis of antecendents and consequences of decision making. , 2004, Psychophysiology.

[45]  P. Laurienti,et al.  Long-term heavy marijuana users make costly decisions on a gambling task. , 2004, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[46]  Luke Clark,et al.  Profile of Executive and Memory Function Associated with Amphetamine and Opiate Dependence , 2006, Neuropsychopharmacology.

[47]  D. Yurgelun-Todd,et al.  Early-onset cannabis use and cognitive deficits: what is the nature of the association? , 2003, Drug and alcohol dependence.

[48]  J. O'Doherty,et al.  Reward representations and reward-related learning in the human brain: insights from neuroimaging , 2004, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[49]  J S Fowler,et al.  Addiction, a disease of compulsion and drive: involvement of the orbitofrontal cortex. , 2000, Cerebral cortex.

[50]  Robert I. Block,et al.  Effects of chronic marijuana use on human cognition , 2005, Psychopharmacology.

[51]  H. Damasio,et al.  Characterization of the decision-making deficit of patients with ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions. , 2000, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[52]  Monique Ernst,et al.  Decision making in adolescents with behavior disorders and adults with substance abuse. , 2003, The American journal of psychiatry.

[53]  Jean-Lud Cadet,et al.  Frontal cortical tissue composition in abstinent cocaine abusers: a magnetic resonance imaging study , 2003, NeuroImage.

[54]  Kent A. Kiehl,et al.  Orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction in abstinent cocaine abusers performing a decision-making task , 2003, NeuroImage.

[55]  Jerome R Busemeyer,et al.  Psychological processes underlying risky decisions in drug abusers. , 2005, Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors.

[56]  Richard W. Foltin,et al.  Abstinence symptoms following smoked marijuana in humans , 1999, Psychopharmacology.