Clinical Psychopharmacology Unit, Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, Gower Street, London, UK.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2010 Nov 1;112(1-2):27-32. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2010.05.004. Epub 2010 Jun 17.
While heavy cannabis-users seem to show various cognitive impairments, it remains unclear whether they also experience significant deficits in affective functioning. Evidence of such deficits may contribute to our understanding of the interpersonal difficulties in cannabis-users, and the link between cannabis-use and psychological disorders (Moore et al., 2007).
Emotion recognition performance of heavy cannabis-users and non-using controls was compared. A measure of emotion recognition was used in which participants identified facial expressions as they changed from neutral (open-mouth) to gradually more intense expressions of sadness, neutral, anger or happiness (open or closed mouth). Reaction times and accuracy were recorded as the facial expressions changed. Participants also completed measures of 'theory of mind,' depression and impulsivity.
Cannabis-users were significantly slower than controls at identifying all three emotional expressions. There was no difference between groups in identifying facial expressions changing from open-mouth neutral expressions to closed-mouth neutral expressions suggesting that differences in emotion recognition were not due to a general slowing of reaction times. Cannabis-users were also significantly more liberal in their response criterion for recognising sadness.
Heavy cannabis-use may be associated with affect recognition deficits. In particular, a greater intensity of emotion expression was required before identification of positive and negative emotions. This was found using stimuli which simulated dynamic changes in emotion expression, and in turn, suggests that cannabis-users may experience generalised problems in decoding basic emotions during social interactions. The implications of these findings are discussed for vulnerability to psychological and interpersonal difficulties in cannabis-users.
尽管重度大麻使用者似乎表现出各种认知障碍，但他们是否在情感功能方面也存在明显缺陷仍不清楚。这些缺陷的证据可能有助于我们理解大麻使用者的人际交往困难，以及大麻使用与心理障碍之间的联系（Moore 等人，2007 年）。
比较了重度大麻使用者和非使用者对照组的情绪识别表现。使用了一种情绪识别测量方法，参与者在面部表情从中性（开口）逐渐变为更强烈的悲伤、中性、愤怒或快乐（开口或闭口）时识别表情。记录了面部表情变化时的反应时间和准确性。参与者还完成了“心理理论”、抑郁和冲动性的测量。
大麻使用者在识别所有三种情绪表情时明显慢于对照组。两组在从开口中性表情到闭口中性表情的识别中没有差异，这表明情绪识别的差异不是由于反应时间的普遍减慢。大麻使用者在识别悲伤时的反应标准也明显更为宽松。
重度大麻使用可能与情感识别缺陷有关。特别是，在识别积极和消极情绪之前，需要更高的情绪表达强度。这是使用模拟情绪表达动态变化的刺激物发现的，反过来也表明大麻使用者在社交互动中可能会遇到解码基本情绪的普遍问题。这些发现的意义讨论了大麻使用者易患心理和人际困难的问题。
