Although recent papers have been released suggesting that it is Alcohol and not Marijuana that is the most harmful drug, this study by Staci Gruber highlights the risks that are still present in long term, young-starting marijuana use.
Cognitive flexibility - the ability to switch behavioural responses according to feedback from your surroundings, was found to be highly affected after long-term marijuana use.
Using a Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, the participants are shown four cards that differ in color, symbol, and value. The participants are asked to sort the cards, but not told what the rules are, leaving them to work out what the rules must be when receiving 'correct' or 'incorrect' feedback. Half way through the rules are changed and the participant must change their behaviour accordingly. This is an indicator of how strong a participant's cognitive flexibility is.
But what did they find?
Habitual marijuana users made more repeated errors than those that started after 16 and who did not habitually use marijuana and also had difficulty maintaining rules once they were set.
I guess it's not particularly new, and kind of obvious - but the study concluded that the younger you start, and the more you use, the greater effect Marijuana has on your cognitive functioning.
Those that claim Marijuana has no long term on them be warned! You may be killing your brain without even knowing it!
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Tuesday 16 November 2010
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This is our first attempt to join the exciting world of blogging and bring to you all the fresh and hot news about the world of psychology and, of course, about your favourite training company. This is our new enterprise and we are finding our way in this mysterious world of blogging cautiously (but surely...) :-)
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We are hoping to move our popular SDS Delegate Debate into this blogging format in the future and looking forward to lively discussions here with you. We are planning to start with publishing already existing SDS Delegate Debates — with comments received from you. Then we'll move to the current news as well as will run new delegate debates there.
Feel free to leave comments to any of the posts — whether they are old debates, the news or new debates. As you can guess — every blogger loves his readers and LIVES for the comments. :-) We are just the same. You don’t need to register in order to be able to comment. You can leave your feedback as “Anonymous”, however, may we ask you to sign you name (or nick) at the end of your comment (even if you are commenting without logging in) so that we know how to address you.
Another useful tool that SDS Blog provides us with is availability of Polls that enable us to find out your views about various subjects. Polls are located on the left panel of the page and updated regularly. Please feel free to vote. You can see the results of each poll by clicking the button "Results".
If you wish to register — nothing can be easier — you just open a Google account — most of you, surely, already use one.
Your comments are read by SDS Consultants regularly and — in many cases — replied to.
The blog is moderated — mainly to protect you and other readers from spam and irrelevant comments.
All posts are tagged — hopefully it'll help you to find your way around there.
Wish us luck and please join the list of our followers.
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