Keith M. Kendrick

2 papers in the library · 14 citations · publishing 2020

Papers

Impaired cognitive performance under psychosocial stress in cannabis-dependent men is associated with attenuated precuneus activity

Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience February 26, 2020 Weihua Zhao, Kaeli Zimmermann, Xinqi Zhou et al. 14 citations

Cannabis-dependent men show exaggerated cognitive performance deterioration during psychosocial stress compared to controls, despite reporting similar stress levels and cardiovascular responses. Brain imaging revealed that this performance decline was accompanied by reduced activity in the precuneus and increased connectivity between the precuneus and the superior frontal gyrus during stress exposure. The findings provide first evidence linking chronic cannabis use to altered neural stress processing, specifically deficient recruitment of the precuneus, which may underlie stress-induced cognitive impairments in cannabis users.

DOI: 10.1503/jpn.190039 Full text Cannabis Precuneus Cognition Social stress +6

Altered Reward Processing in Abstinent Dependent Cannabis Users: Social Context Matters

Kaeli Zimmermann, Keith M. Kendrick, Dirk Scheele et al. preprint

Cannabis-dependent men show blunted neural and behavioral responses to social reward, specifically when receiving touch from a woman compared to a man. In a study of 23 abstinent cannabis-dependent men and 24 matched non-using controls, dependent users reported less pleasure and showed reduced striatal brain activation during female (versus male) touch, with stronger alterations linked to greater lifetime cannabis exposure. Neural processing of pleasant touch itself remained intact. The findings suggest that cannabis dependence produces lasting neuroadaptations in reward processing similar to other drugs of abuse, but deficits depend on social context.

DOI: 10.1101/278044