Ecstasy use: cognitive deficits related to dosage rather than self-reported problematic use of the drug

Helen C Fox · Andrew C. Parrott · John J. Turner

170 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Psychopharmacology

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Psychedelics and Drug Studies Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes Forensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis

Abstract

Previous research has shown drug-free Ecstasy users to demonstrate selective cognitive impairment. However, there seems to be a degree of individual variation in the occurrence of such deficits. The present study aimed to assess whether these cognitive deficits are related to an awareness of problematic Ecstasy use, or to past drug dosage. Twenty regular Ecstasy users who reported experiencing Ecstasy-related problems were compared with 20 Ecstasy users who had not reported any previous problems. The two groups displayed similar past histories in relation to a range of illicit drugs, and were divided into low, medium and high users. The controls comprised 20 illicit recreational drug users who had never taken Ecstasy. Executive task measures comprised the Tower of London (TOL), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) and spatial working memory. Immediate and delayed word recall, matched verbal recognition and recall and simple reaction time were also included. Both Ecstasy groups performed significantly worse than controls on two executive measures: TOL planning time and spatial working memory score. There were no differences in cognitive impairment between the Ecstasy users who complained of problems and those who did not. In both groups, decrement on executive tasks was demonstrated as a function of previous drug dose. The study confirms that heavy Ecstasy polydrug use may culminate in selective executive deficits. It also demonstrates that two differently self-perceived Ecstasy groups showed similar cognitive impairment, despite only one group complaining of problems. Because all Ecstasy participants also consumed a range of other illicit drugs, the results are reflective of Ecstasy polydrug use in individuals who use Ecstasy as a drug of preference.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 170 citations exist upstream.

References

1995Psychological Assessment Resources 1981Wisconsin Card Sorting Test Manual – Revised and Expanded 1998Positron emission tomographic evidence of toxic effect of MDMA (“Ecstasy”) on brain serotonin neurons in human beings 1998Cognitive Function Following Acute Sleep Restriction in Children Ages 10–14 1992Recreational MDMA use in Sydney: a profile of ‘Ecstasy’ users and their experiences with the drug 1998Memory impairment in abstinent MDMA ("Ecstasy") users 1992Aggression, suicidality, and serotonin.1998Ecstasy (MDMA) effects upon mood and cognition: before, during and after a Saturday night dance

Cited by

2004Increased intensity of Ecstasy and polydrug usage in the more experienced recreational Ecstasy/MDMA users: A WWW study 2002Ecstasy/MDMA attributed problems reported by novice, moderate and heavy recreational users 2004MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) or Ecstasy: The Neuropsychobiological Implications of Taking It at Dances and Raves 2006Elevated impulsivity and impaired decision-making cognition in heavy users of MDMA (“Ecstasy”)2006

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.