Value Signals Guiding Choices for Cannabis Versus Non-Drug Rewards in Regular Cannabis Users
March 15, 2023 Will Lawn, Xuejun Hao, Anna B. Konova et al. preprint
Near-daily cannabis users show normal neural value encoding for cannabis but disrupted encoding for non-drug rewards like snacks, even when their actual choices are equivalent. The study used a neuroeconomic framework to measure brain activity while participants chose between varying amounts of cannabis or snacks and money. Value signals for cannabis appeared in brain regions typically involved in reward processing (ventromedial prefrontal cortex, ventral striatum, dorsal posterior cingulate cortex), but these signals were weaker or absent for snacks. The findings support the idea that problematic substance use involves dysregulated neural valuation of non-drug rewards.