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Disrupted `reflection' impulsivity in cannabis users but not current or former ecstasy users

Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, lc260{at}cam.ac.uk

JP Roiser

Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK

TW Robbins

Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

BJ Sahakian

Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, School of Clinical Medicine, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK

Evidence for serotonin involvement in impulsivity has generated interest in the measurement of impulsivity in regular ecstasy users, who are thought to display serotonergic dysfunction. However, current findings are inconsistent. Here, we used a recently developed Information Sampling Test to measure `reflection' impulsivity in 46 current ecstasy users, 14 subjects who used ecstasy in the past, 15 current cannabis users and 19 drug-naïve controls. Despite elevated scores on the Impulsivity subscale of the Eysenck Impulsiveness-Venturesomeness-Empathy questionnaire, the current and previous ecstasy users did not differ significantly from the drug-naive controls on the Information Sampling Test. In contrast, the cannabis users sampled significantly less information on the task, and tolerated a lower level of certainty in their decision-making, in comparison to the drug-naive controls. The effect in cannabis users extends our earlier observations in amphetamine- and opiate-dependent individuals (Clark, et al., 2006, Biological Psychiatry 60: 515—522), and suggests that reduced reflection may be a common cognitive style across regular users of a variety of substances. However, the lack of effects in the two ecstasy groups suggests that the relationship between serotonin function, ecstasy use and impulsivity is more complex.

Key Words: addiction • cannabis • decision-making • inhibition • MDMA

This version was published on January 1, 2009

Journal of Psychopharmacology, Vol. 23, No. 1, 14-22 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0269881108089587


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