Imaging cognitive deficits in drug abuse

Abstract

The neuropsychological network is a complex structure. To identify processes location and network capacity the brain imaging techniques together and in combination with other neuropsychological techniques and the expanding of well elaborated designs provide us with a multidimensional understanding, and contributes to the understanding of each illicit drug's character, which is of importance in designing of new treatment programs and clinical practice. Cannabis, MDMA, amphetamine, cocaine, and heroin abusers display both acute effects and chronic effects, deficits in attention, memory, and executive functioning. These deficits may last beyond the period of intoxication and cumulate with years of use. Cannabis users may recruit an alternative neural network as a compensatory mechanism during performance of tasks of attention. There is some evidence indicating the detrimental effects of cannabis on the maturing adolescent brain. Stimulant dependence is characterized by a distributed alteration of functional activation. Attenuated anterior and posterior cingulate activation, reduced inferior frontal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activation, and altered posterior parietal activation point towards an inadequate demand-specific processing of information. On an individual level they exhibit process-related brain activation differences that are consistent with a shift from context-specific, effortful processing to more stereotyped, habitual response generation. Finally, opiate use appears to decrease the ability to shift cognitive set and inhibit inappropriate response tendencies. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009.