Impaired learning from errors in chronic cannabis users: Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and hippocampus hypoactivity
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1
University of Melbourne, School of Psychological Sciences, Australia
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2
Trinity College Dublin, School of Psychology and Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, Ireland
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3
University of Vermont, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, United States
Background: The chronic use of cannabis has been associated with attenuated error-related neural activity, particularly in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). Difficulty in modifying behaviour following an error is thought to be related to clinical impairments, such as perseveration, that are seen in substance abuse and other psychiatric disorders.
Method: Fifteen chronic cannabis users (four females, mean age = 22.40 years, SD = 4.29) and 15 control participants (two females, mean age = 23.27 years, SD = 3.67) were administered a visuospatial associative learning task that enabled participants to learn from their recall errors.
Results: Compared with controls, chronic cannabis users showed (1) lower recall error-correction rate and (2) hypoactivity in the dACC and left hippocampus during the encoding of error-related feedback. Furthermore, the difference in dACC activation between cannabis users and healthy controls varied as a function of error type, with the control group showing a significantly greater increase in activity from corrected to repeated errors than the cannabis group.
Conclusion: The present results suggest that chronic cannabis users have poorer learning from errors, with the failure to adapt performance associated with hypoactivity in error-related dACC and hippocampal regions. The findings have implications for our understanding of the diminished capacity for learning from negative feedback seen in cannabis, and other forms, of dependence.
Keywords:
drug addiction,
marijuana,
Cannabis,
error-related,
error processing,
Learning
Conference:
ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference, Brisbane, Australia, 29 Nov - 2 Dec, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Memory
Citation:
Carey
S,
Nestor
L,
Jones
J,
Garavan
H and
Hester
R
(2012). Impaired learning from errors in chronic cannabis users: Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and hippocampus hypoactivity.
Conference Abstract:
ACNS-2012 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Conference.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2012.208.00128
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Received:
25 Oct 2012;
Published Online:
17 Nov 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Robert Hester, University of Melbourne, School of Psychological Sciences, Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia, hesterr@unimelb.edu.au