Acute marijuana effects on response-reinforcer relations under multiple variable-interval schedules.
Scott D Lane, Don R Cherek, C J Pietras, Oleg V Tcheremissine
Behavioural Pharmacology July 2004 DOI: 10.1097/01.fbp.0000135003.80318.97 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Within-subject experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 6 |
| Population | Human subjects responding for monetary reinforcers under a multiple variable-interval schedule |
| Intervention | Marijuana |
| Dose | placebo and two active doses of marijuana (low and high) |
| Measures | matching law equation parameters (k and rB) |
| Topics | Cannabis |
| Key findings | At the high marijuana dose, five of six subjects showed a decrease in the motor-related property of response rate and four subjects showed a decrease in reinforcer efficacy, as measured by matching law parameters k and rB. The low dose produced unsystematic changes. The authors suggest high-dose marijuana may alter both motor function and reinforcer efficacy. |
Abstract
Acute marijuana administration may alter response-reinforcer relationships via a change in reinforcer efficacy, but may also impair coordination and motor function. One approach to evaluating drug effects on both motor function and reinforcer efficacy involves fitting the matching law equation to data obtained under multiple variable interval (VI) schedules. The present report describes an experiment that examined the effects of acute marijuana on response properties using this approach. Six human subjects responded under a multiple VI schedule for monetary reinforcers after smoking placebo and two active doses of marijuana. The low marijuana dose produced unsystematic changes in responding. As measured by the matching law equation parameters (k and rB), at the high dose five subjects showed a decrease-motor-related properties of response rate and four subjects' responding indicated a decrease in reinforcer efficacy. These data raise the possibility that, at high doses, marijuana administration alters both motor function and reinforcer efficacy.
Comparable studies
Other experimental studies on cannabis, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoked Cannabis' Psychomotor and Neurocognitive Effects in Occasional and Frequent Smokers Occasional (<2x/week) and frequent (≥4x/week) cannabis smokers | 2015 | Controlled within-subjects study | n = 25 |
| Dissociable effects of cannabis with and without cannabidiol on the human brain’s resting-state functional connectivity Healthy volunteers experienced with cannabis but not regular users | 2019 | Within-subjects experimental design | n = 17 |
| Which biological and self-report measures of cannabis use predict cannabis dependency and acute psychotic-like effects? Young cannabis users | 2018 | Observational study (naturalistic, within-subject counterbalanced design) | n = 410 |
| Cannabis Essential Oil: A Preliminary Study for the Evaluation of the Brain Effects Healthy volunteers | 2018 | Experimental study | n = 5 |
| Coming off cannabis: a cognitive and magnetic resonance imaging study in patients with multiple sclerosis Patients with multiple sclerosis who began using cannabis after disease onset, used it... | 2019 | Quasi-experimental study with odd-even allocation | n = 40 |