Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-ph5wq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T12:19:07.728Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Verbal working memory deficits in abstinent heroin abusers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2014

Zhao-Xin Wang
Affiliation:
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital, Medical College of Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, China Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
Zhuang-Wei Xiao*
Affiliation:
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital, Medical College of Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, China
Da-Ren Zhang
Affiliation:
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China
Chun-Yu Liang
Affiliation:
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital, Medical College of Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, China
John X. Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, China
*
Guangdong Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital, Medical College of Shantou University, Shantou 515041, China. Tel/Fax: +86 754 861 2318; E-mail: xiaozw@vip.163.com

Abstract

Background:

A prevailing belief is that opioids tend not to impair cognitive performance in opioid-dependent users. However, the impact of heroin abuse on verbal memory, especially on working memory, is not well studied and the results available are inconsistent.

Objective:

This study was carried out to test the hypothesis that abstinent heroin abusers have intact working memory capacity.

Methods:

N-back task and backward digit span task were used to measure the verbal working memory capacity in 28 abstinent heroin abusers and 25 controls matched for age, education level and gender. Forward digit span task was used as a control task to measure short-term memory capacity.

Results:

Compared with the control subjects, heroin abusers showed normal backward/forward digit spans but significant performance impairment in the n-back task.

Conclusion:

Abstinent heroin abusers have intact short-term memory capacity but impaired verbal working memory capacity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Blackwell Munksgaard

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Zacny, JP. A review of the effects of opioids on psychomotor and cognitive functioning in humans. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 1995;3:432466. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, L. Neuropsychological assessment of substance abusers: review and recommendations. J Subst Abuse Treat 1985;2:517. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ornstein, TJ, Iddon, JL, Baldacchino, AMet al. Profiles of cognitive dysfunction in chronic amphetamine and heroin abusers. Neuropsychopharmacology 2000;23:113126. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pau, CW, Lee, TM, Chan, SF. The impact of heroin on frontal executive functions. Arch Clin Neuropsychol 2002;17:663670. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hill, SY, Reyes, RB, Mikhael, M, Ayre, F. A comparison of alcoholics and heroin abusers: computerized transaxial tomography and neuropsychological functioning. Curr Alcohol 1979;5:187205. Google ScholarPubMed
Verdejo-Garcia, A, Lopez-Torrecillas, F, Gimenez, CO, Perez-Garcia, M. Clinical implications and methodological challenges in the study of the neuropsychological correlates of cannabis, stimulant, and opioid abuse. Neuropsychol Rev 2004;14:141. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fishbein, DH, Krupitsky, E, Flannery, BAet al. Neurocognitive characterizations of Russian heroin addicts without a significant history of other drug use. Drug Alcohol Depend 2007;90:2538. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lundqvist, T. Cognitive consequences of cannabis use: comparison with abuse of stimulants and heroin with regard to attention, memory and executive functions. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2005;81:319330. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kanof, PD, Handelsman, L, Aronson, MJ, Ness, R, Cochrane, KJ, Rubinstein, KJ. Clinical characteristics of naloxone-precipitated withdrawal in human opioid-dependent subjects. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 1992;260:355363. Google ScholarPubMed
Brown, R, Partington, JE. A psychometric comparison of narcotic addicts with hospital attendants. J Gen Psychol 1942;27:1316. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruhn, P, Maage, N. Intellectual and neuropsychological functions in young men with heavy and long-term patterns of drug abuse. Am J Psychiatry 1975;132:397401. Google ScholarPubMed
Xiao, Z, Lee, T, Zhang, JXet al. Thirsty heroin addicts show different fMRI activations when exposed to water-related and drug-related cues. Drug Alcohol Depend 2006;83:157162. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kalyoncu, A, Mrsal, H, Pektas, O, Tan, D, Beyazyurek, M. Heroin-dependent patients attempting and not attempting suicide: a comparison. Acta Neuropsychiatr 2007;19:297303. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhu, DF, Wang, ZX, Zhang, DRet al. fMRI revealed neural substrate for reversible working memory dysfunction in subclinical hypothyroidism. Brain 2006;129:29232930. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Owen, AM, McMillan, KM, Laird, AR, Bullmore, E. N-back working memory paradigm: a meta-analysis of normative functional neuroimaging studies. Hum Brain Mapp 2005;25:4659. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roediger, HL III, Marsh, EJ, Lee, SC. Kinds of memory, 3 edn, Vol. 2. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2002. Google Scholar
Baddeley, A. Working memory. Science 1992;256:556. Google Scholar
Sun, X, Zhang, X, Chen, Xet al. Age-dependent brain activation during forward and backward digit recall revealed by fMRI. Neuroimage 2005;26:3647. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. Wechsler memory scale-revised. New York: Psychological Corporation, 1987. Google Scholar
Mintzer, MZ, Stitzer, ML. Cognitive impairment in methadone maintenance patients. Drug Alcohol Depend 2002;67:4151. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Darke, S, Sims, J, McDonald, S, Wickes, W. Cognitive impairment among methadone maintenance patients. Addiction 2000;95:687695. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gruber, SA, Tzilos, GK, Silveri, MMet al. Methadone maintenance improves cognitive performance after two months of treatment. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 2006;14:157164. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Belleville, S, Rouleau, N, Caza, N. Effect of normal aging on the manipulation of information in working memory. Mem Cognit 1998;26:572583. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quinette, P, Guillery, B, Desgranges, B, De LaSayette, V, Viader, F, Eustache, F. Working memory and executive functions in transient global amnesia. Brain 2003;126:19171934. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, A. Transient global amnesia. Psychon Bull Rev 1998;5:401427. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendrek, A, Monterosso, J, Simon, SLet al. Working memory in cigarette smokers: comparison to non-smokers and effects of abstinence. Addict Behav 2006;31:833844. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bollini, AM, Arnold, MC, Keefe, RS. Test-retest reliability of the dot test of visuospatial working memory in patients with schizophrenia and controls. Schizophr Res 2000;45:169173. CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jaffe, JH. Drug addiction and drug abuse. New York: Pergamon Press, 1990. Google ScholarPubMed