Terrett Gill, McLennan Skye N, Henry Julie D, Biernacki Kathryn, Mercuri Kimberly, Curran H Valerie, Rendell Peter G
School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne Campus, Locked Bag 4115, Fitzroy, MDC, Melbourne, Victoria, 3065, Australia,
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2014 Jul;231(13):2623-32. doi: 10.1007/s00213-014-3432-6. Epub 2014 Jan 22.
Opiate use is associated with a range of neurological and cognitive deficits. However, to date, no studies have assessed whether these cognitive deficits extend to the ability to perform intended actions in the future (i.e. prospective memory). Reduced ability in this area might be anticipated due to impaired executive functions and episodic memory associated with long-term opiate use.
The main objectives of this study are to assess the performance of long-term opiate users on a laboratory measure of prospective memory which closely simulates the types of prospective memory tasks encountered in everyday life ('Virtual Week') and to investigate the extent to which prospective memory performance is related to executive functions and episodic memory ability.
Twenty-six long-term heroin users enrolled in an opiate substitution program, and 30 controls with no previous history of drug use were tested on Virtual Week. Retrospective memory and executive functions were also assessed.
Long-term opiate users were significantly impaired on prospective memory performance compared with controls (p = 0.002, η(2) p = 0.17), and these deficits did not vary as a function of prospective memory task type (regular, irregular, event, time). The findings also suggest that retrospective memory difficulties contribute to the prospective memory difficulties seen in opiate users (r s = 0.78, p < 0.001) but that executive dysfunction is less influential.
Prospective memory is sensitive to long-term opiate use. Importantly, opiate users suffer from generalised deficits in prospective memory, regardless of the task demands, which may have significant implications for day-to-day functioning. These results may therefore contribute to the development of clinical intervention strategies to reduce the negative impact of prospective memory failures in daily life.
阿片类药物的使用与一系列神经和认知缺陷有关。然而，迄今为止，尚无研究评估这些认知缺陷是否会延伸至未来执行预期行动的能力（即前瞻性记忆）。由于长期使用阿片类药物导致执行功能和情景记忆受损，预计该领域的能力会有所下降。
本研究的主要目的是通过一项实验室前瞻性记忆测试来评估长期阿片类药物使用者的表现，该测试紧密模拟日常生活中遇到的前瞻性记忆任务类型（“虚拟周”），并调查前瞻性记忆表现与执行功能和情景记忆能力的相关程度。
对26名参加阿片类药物替代计划的长期海洛因使用者和30名无吸毒史的对照者进行了“虚拟周”测试。还评估了回顾性记忆和执行功能。
与对照组相比，长期阿片类药物使用者的前瞻性记忆表现明显受损（p = 0.002，η(2)p = 0.17），并且这些缺陷不会因前瞻性记忆任务类型（常规、非常规、事件、时间）而有所不同。研究结果还表明，回顾性记忆困难导致了阿片类药物使用者出现前瞻性记忆困难（rs = 0.78，p < 0.001），但执行功能障碍的影响较小。
前瞻性记忆对长期使用阿片类药物敏感。重要的是，无论任务要求如何，阿片类药物使用者在前瞻性记忆方面都存在普遍缺陷，这可能对日常功能产生重大影响。因此，这些结果可能有助于制定临床干预策略，以减少日常生活中前瞻性记忆失败的负面影响。
