Journal
JOURNAL OF THE EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIOR
Volume 83, Issue 1, Pages 67-83Publisher
SOC EXP ANALYSIS BEHAVIOR INC
DOI: 10.1901/jeab.2005.22-04
Keywords
marijuana; delayed match-to-sample; memory; human
Funding
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE [R01DA012968] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
- NIDA NIH HHS [DA R01 12968] Funding Source: Medline
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It has long been known that acute marijuana administration impairs working memory (e.g., the discrimination of stimuli separated by a delay). The determination of which of the individual components of memory are altered by marijuana is an unresolved problem. Previous human studies did not use test protocols that allowed for the determination of delay-independent (initial discrimination) from delay-dependent (forgetting or retrieval) components of memory. Using methods developed in the experimental analysis of behavior and signal detection theory, we tested the acute effects of smoked marijuana on forgetting functions in 5 humans. Immediately after smoking placebo, a low close, or a high close of marijuana (varying in Delta(9)-THC content), subjects completed delayed match-to-sample testing that included a range of retention intervals within each test session (0.5, 4, 12, and 24 s). Performances (discriminability) at each dose were plotted as forgetting functions, as described and developed by White and colleagues (White, 1985; White & Ruske, 2002). For all 5 subjects, both Delta(9)-THC closes impaired delay-depenclent discrimination but not delay-independent discrimination. The outcome is Consistent with current, nonhuman studies examining the role of the cannabinoid system on delayed matching procedures, and the data help illuminate one behavioral mechanism through which marijuana afters memory performance.
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