CANNABIS and ecstasy impair different types of memory鈥攂ut users are
blissfully unaware of their effects.
Jacqui Rodgers and Dave Sanders of the University of Sunderland subjected
three groups of volunteers to a battery of memory tests, including, attention,
retention, verbal and visual exercises. Some volunteers had never used drugs,
others used cannabis regularly and some combined cannabis and ecstasy.
Cannabis users did poorly on verbal memory, while ecstasy users were unable
to retain information until the end of the hour-long interview, Rodgers told a
meeting of the British Psychological Society in Belfast last week.
Advertisement
In a self-assessment test, however, all the subjects expressed the same level
of confidence in their abilities. 鈥淭his is certainly not something we expected,鈥�
says Rodgers.