Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Aug;111(8):1466-76.
doi: 10.1111/add.13342. Epub 2016 Mar 8.

Ecological momentary assessment of working memory under conditions of simultaneous marijuana and tobacco use

Randi Melissa Schuster  1   2 , Robin J Mermelstein  3   4 , Donald Hedeker  5
Affiliations

Ecological momentary assessment of working memory under conditions of simultaneous marijuana and tobacco use

Randi Melissa Schuster et al. Addiction. 2016 Aug.

Abstract

Background and aims: The neuropsychological correlates of simultaneous marijuana and tobacco use are largely unknown, which is surprising as both substances have similar neural substrates and have opposing influences on working memory (WM). This study examined the effects of marijuana alone, tobacco alone and simultaneous marijuana and tobacco use on WM.

Design: Primary aims were tested using a within-subject design, controlling for multiple subject- and momentary-level confounds via ecological momentary assessment (EMA).

Setting: Data collection occurred in the Chicago, USA area in participants' natural environments.

Participants: Participants were 287 community young adults from a larger natural history study, oversampled for ever smoking, all of whom event-recorded at least one substance use occasion during the study week.

Measurements: Momentary tobacco, marijuana and alcohol use were recorded during multiple EMA across 1 week of data capture. WM was assessed at the end of each EMA assessment. Contextual variables that may influence WM were recorded via EMA.

Findings: There were main effects for marijuana and tobacco: WM was poorer with marijuana [odds ratio (OR) = 0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.84-0.99] and better with tobacco (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.04-1.18). These effects were not qualified by an interaction (OR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.84-1.26). Alcohol also reduced WM (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.79-0.95), and the tobacco × alcohol interaction was significant (OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.66-0.99), indicating that the facilitative effect of tobacco disappeared with concurrent alcohol use.

Conclusions: Relative to when individuals did not use these substances, working memory decreased with acute marijuana and alcohol use and increased with acute tobacco use. However, the putative effect of marijuana on working memory and the facilitative effect of tobacco on working memory were no longer present when used simultaneously with tobacco and alcohol, respectively. Data suggest that tobacco use may compensate for working memory decrements from marijuana among young adults and highlight the importance of investigating further the negative impact of alcohol use on cognition.

Keywords: Alcohol; cannabis; ecological momentary assessment; tobacco; working memory; young adults.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure 1 depicts the mean change in working memory performance under different substance use combinations, compared to mean performance levels. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. *Represents significant changes from non-use occasions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Miech RA, Johnston LD, O'Malley PM, Bachman JG, Schulenberg JE. Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975–2014: Volume I, Secondary school students. 2015
    1. Amos A, Wiltshire S, Bostock Y, Haw S, McNeill A. ‘You can't go without a fag…you need it for your hash’--a qualitative exploration of smoking, cannabis and young people. Addiction. 2004;99(1):77–81. - PubMed
    1. Golub A, Johnson BD, Dunlap E. The growth in marijuana use among American youths during the 1990s and the extent of blunt smoking. J Ethn Subst Abuse. 2005;4(3-4):1–21. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Agrawal A, Lynskey MT, Madden PA, Pergadia ML, Bucholz KK, Heath AC. Simultaneous cannabis and tobacco use and cannabis-related outcomes in young women. Drug and alcohol dependence. 2009;101(1-2):8–12. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baggio S, Studer J, Mohler-Kuo M, Daeppen JB, Gmel G. Concurrent and simultaneous polydrug use among young Swiss males: use patterns and associations of number of substances used with health issues. Int J Adolesc Med Health. 2014;26(2):217–24. - PubMed

Publication types