Executive working memory deficits in abstinent ecstasy/mdma users: A critical review

Neuropsychobiology

Volumn 60, Issue 3-4, 2009, Pages 159-175

  Murphy, Philip N ^a   Wareing, Michelle ^b   Fisk, John E ^c   Montgomery, Catharine ^b  

^a EDGE HILL UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^b LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^c UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL LANCASHIRE   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

3,4 Methylenedioxymethamphetamine; Cognitive impairment; Cognitive performance; Ecstasy; Memory; Psychopharmacology; Working memory

Indexed keywords

3,4 METHYLENEDIOXYMETHAMPHETAMINE;

AMNESIA; COGNITIVE DEFECT; DEPTH PERCEPTION; HUMAN; LONG TERM MEMORY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; REVIEW; SPATIAL MEMORY; TASK PERFORMANCE; WORKING MEMORY;

EXECUTIVE FUNCTION; HALLUCINOGENS; HUMANS; MEMORY DISORDERS; MEMORY, SHORT-TERM; N-METHYL-3,4-METHYLENEDIOXYAMPHETAMINE;

EID: 70449553305     PISSN: 0302282X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1159/000253552     Document Type: Review

References (54)

1. Murphy R, Roe S: Drug Misuse Declared: Findings from the 2006/07 British Crime Survey. London, Home Office, 18/07
2. Morgan MJ: Ecstasy (MDMA): A review of its possible persistent psychological effects. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2000; 152: 230-248
3. Parrott AC: Human research on MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) neurotoxicity: Cognitive and behavioural indices of change. Neuropsychobiology 2000; 42: 17-24
4. Lyvers M: Recreational ecstasy use and the neurotoxic potential of MDMA: Current status of the controversy and methodological issues. Drug Alcohol Rev 2006; 25: 269-276
5. Baddeley A: Short-term and working memory; in Tulving E, Craik FIM (eds): The Oxford Handbook of Memory. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000
6. Shah P, Miyake A: Models of working memory: An introduction; in Miyake A, Shah P (eds): Models of Working Memory: Mechanisms of Active Maintenance and Executive Control. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999
7. Baddeley A: Exploring the central executive. Q J Exp Psychol 1996; 49A:5-28
8. Miyake A, Friedman NP, Emerson MJ, Witzki AH, Howerter A: The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex 'frontal lobe' tasks: A latent variable analysis. Cogn Psychol 2000; 41: 49-100
9. Miyake A, Friedman AP, Rettinger DA, Shah P, Hegarty M: How are visuospatial working memory, executive functioning, and spatial abilities related? A latent variable analysis. J Exp Psychol Gen 2001; 130: 621-640
10. Fisk JE, Sharp CA: Age-related impairment in executive functioning: updating, inhibition, shifting, and access. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2004; 26: 874-890
11. Montgomery C, Fisk JE, Wareing M, Murphy PN: Self-reported sleep quality and cognitive performance in ecstasy users. Hum Psychopharmacol 2007; 22: 537-548
12. Wareing M, Fisk JE, Murphy PN, Montgomery C: Verbal working memory deficits in current and previous users of MDMA. Hum Psychopharmacol 2004; 19: 225-234
13. Fisk JE, Montgomery C, Murphy PN, Wareing M: Evidence of executive deficits among users of MDMA (ecstasy). Br J Psychol 2004; 95: 457-466 (Pubitemid 39594094)
14. Montgomery C, Fisk JE, Newcombe R, Murphy PN: The differential effects of MDMA ('ecstasy') on executive components: Shifting, inhibition, updating, and access to semantic memory. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2005; 182: 262-276
15. Fisk JE, Montgomery C: Evidence for selective executive function deficits in ecstasy/ polydrug users. J Psychopharmacol 2009; 23: 40-50
16. Wareing M, Fisk JE, Montgomery C, Murphy PN, Chandler M: Information processing speed in ecstasy (MDMA) users. Hum Psychopharmacol 2007; 22: 81-88
17. Montgomery C, Fisk JE: Ecstasy-related deficits in the updating component of executive processes. Hum Psychopharmacol 2008; 23: 495-511
18. Dafters RI: Chronic ecstasy (MDMA) use is associated with deficits in task-switching but not inhibition or memory updating executive functions. Drug Alcohol Depend 2006; 83: 181-184
19. Wareing M, Fisk JE, Murphy PN, Montgomery C: Visuospatial working memory impairments in users of MDMA (ecstasy). Hum Psychopharmacol 2005; 20: 115-123
20. Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS: Using Multivariate Statistics. Boston, Allyn & Bacon, 2001
21. Cole J, Sumnall H, Grob C: Sorted: Ecstasy facts and fiction. Psychologist 2002; 15: 464-467
22. Morgan M: Recreational use of 'ecstasy' (MDMA) is associated with elevated impulsivity. Neuropsychopharmacology 1998; 19: 252-264
23. McCann UD, Szabo Z, Seckin E, Rosenblatt, P, Mathews WB, Ravert HT, Dannals, RF, Ricaurte GA: Quantitative PET studies of the serotonin transporter in MDMA users and controls using CJMcN5652 and JDASB. Neuropsychopharmacology 2005; 30: 1741-1750
24. Meltzer CC, Smith G, DeKosky ST, Pollock BG, Mathis CA, Moore RY, Kupfer DJ, Reynolds CF: Serotonin in aging, later-life depression, and Alzheimer's disease: The emerging role of functional imaging. Neuropsychopharmacology 1998; 18: 407-430
25. Hesse S, Barthel H, Murai T, Muller U, Muller D, Seese A, Kluge R, Sabri O: Is correction for age necessary in neuroimaging studies of the central serotonin transporter? Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2003; 30: 427-430
26. McCann UD, Petersen SC, Ricaurte GA: The effect of catecholamine depletion by- -methyl- para-tyrosine on measures of cognitive performance and sleep in abstinent MDMA users. Neuropsychopharmacology 2007; 32: 1695-1706
27. Fox HC, Parrott AC, Turner JJD: Ecstasy use: Cognitive deficits related to dosage rather than self-reported use of the drug. J Psychopharmacol 2001; 15: 273-281
28. Thomasius R, Petersen K, Buchert R, Andresen B, Zapletalova P, Wartberg L, Nebeling B, Schmoldt A: Mood, cognition and serotonin transporter availability in current and former ecstasy (MDMA) users. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2003; 167: 85-96
29. Reneman L, Schilt T, de Win MM, Booij J, Schmand B, van den Brink W, Bakker O: Memory function and serotonin transporter promoter gene polymorphism in ecstasy (MDMA) users. J Psychopharmacol 2006; 20: 389-399.
30. Halpern JH, Pope HG, Sherwood AR, Barry S, Hudson JI, Yurgelun-Todd D: Residual neuropsychological effects of illicit 3,4- methylenediox ymethamphet amine (MDMA) in individuals with minimal exposure to other drugs. Drug Alcohol Depend 2004; 75: 135-147
31. Smith RM, Tivarus M, Campbell HL, Hillier A, Beversdorf DQ: Apparent transient effects of recent 'ecstasy' use on cognitive performance and extrapyramidal signs in human subjects. Cogn Behav Neurol 2006; 19: 157-164
32. Croft RJ, Mackay AJ, Mills ATD, Gruzelier JGH: The relative contributions of ecstasy and cannabis to cognitive impairment. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2001; 153: 373-379
33. Morgan MJ, McFie L, Fleetwood LH, Robinson JA: Ecstasy (MDMA): Are the psychological problems associated with its use reversed by prolonged abstinence? Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2002; 159: 294-303
34. Yip JTH, Lee TMC: Effects of ecstasy use on neuropsychological function: A study in Hong Kong. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2005; 179: 620-628
35. Dafters RI: Impulsivity, inhibition, and negative priming in ecstasy users. Addict Behav 2006; 31: 1436-1441
36. De Sola Llopis S, Miguelez-Pan M, Pena-Casanova J, Poudevida S, Farre M, Pacifici R, Bohm P, Abanades S, Verdejo Garcia A, Langohr K, Zuccaro P, de la Torre R: Cognitive performance in recreational ecstasy polydrug users: A two-year follow-up study. J Psychopharmacol 2008; 22: 498-510
37. Wareing M, Fisk JE, Murphy PN: Working memory deficits in current and previous users of MDMA ('Ecstasy'). Br J Psychol 2000; 91: 181-188
38. Fox HC, McLean A, Turner JJD, Parrott AC, Rogers R, Sahakian BJ: Neuropsychological evidence of a relatively selective profile of temporal dysfunction in drug-free MDMA ('ecstasy') polydrug users. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2002; 162: 203-214
39. Semple DM, Ebmeier KP, Glabus MF, O'Carroll RE, Johnstone EC: Reduced in vivo binding to the serotonin transporter in the cerebral cortex of MDMA ('ecstasy') users. Br J Psychiatry 1999; 175: 63-69
40. Gouzoulis-Mayfrank E, Daumann J, Tuchtenhagen F, Pelz S, Becker S, Kunert HJ, Fimm B, Sass H: Impaired cognitive performance in drug-free users of recreational ecstasy (MDMA). J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2000; 68: 719-725
41. Heffernan TM, Jarvis H, Rodgers J, Scholey AB, Ling J: Prospective memory, everyday cognitive failure and central executive functioning in recreational users of ecstasy. Hum Psychopharmacol 2001; 16: 607-612
42. Bhattachary S, Powell JH: Recreational use of 3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) or ecstasy: Evidence for cognitive impairment. Psychol Med 2001; 31: 647-658
43. Hanson KL, Luciana M: Neurocognitive function in users of MDMA: The importance of clinically significant patterns of use. Psychol Med 2004; 34: 229-246
44. Verkes RJ, Gijsman HJ, Pieters MSM, Schoemaker RC, de Visser S, Kuijpers M, Pennings EJM, de Bruin D, Van de Wijngaart G, Van Gerven JMA, Cohen AF: Cognitive performance and serotonergic function in users of ecstasy. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2001; 153: 196-202
45. Wareing M, Murphy PN, Fisk JE: Visuospatial memory impairments in users of MDMA ('ecstasy'). Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2004; 173: 391-397 (Pubitemid 38703813)
46. McCann U, Mertl M, Eligulashvili V, Ricaurte GA: Cognitive performance in ( 8 )3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'ecstasy') users: A controlled study. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1999; 143: 417-425
47. Schilt T, de Win MML, Koeter M, Jager G, Korf DJ, van den Brink W, Schmand B: Cognition in novice ecstasy users with minimal exposure to other drugs: A prospective cohort study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2007; 64: 728-736
48. Schilt T, de Win MML, Jager G, Koeter MW, Ramsey NF, Schmand B, van den Brink W: Specific effects of ecstasy and other illicit drugs on cognition in poly-substance users. Psychol Med 2007; 38: 1309-1317
49. Rodgers J: Cognitive performance amongst recreational users of 'ecstasy'. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2000; 151: 19-24
50. Collette F, Hogge M, Salmon E, van der Linden M: Exploration of the neural substrates of executive functioning by functional neuroimaging. Neuroscience 2006; 139: 209-221
51. Owen AM, Stern CE, Look RB, Tracey I, Rosen BR, Petrides M: Functional organisation of spatial and nonspatial working memory processing within the human lateral frontal cortex. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1998; 95: 7721-7726
52. Sarne Y, Keren O: Are cannabinoid drugs neurotoxic or neuroprotective? Med Hypotheses 2004; 63: 187-192
53. Parrott AC, Buchanan T, Scholey AB, Heffernan T, Ling J, Rodgers J: Ecstasy/ MDMAattributed problems reported by novice, moderate, and heavy recreational users. Hum Psychopharmacol 2002; 17: 309-312
54. Reay JL, Hamilton C, Kennedy DO, Scholey AB: MDMA polydrug users show processspecific central executive impairments coupled with impaired social and emotional judgement processes. J Psychopharmacol 2006; 20: 385-388