TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the relationship between frequent cannabis use, belief updating under uncertainty and psychotic-like symptoms
AU - Liang, Xinyi
AU - Avram, Maria-Mihaela
AU - Gibbs-Dean, Toni
AU - Chesney, Edward
AU - Oliver, Dominic
AU - Wang, Simiao
AU - Obreshkova, Stiliyana
AU - Spencer, Tom
AU - Englund, Amir
AU - Diederen, Kelly
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2024 Liang, Avram, Gibbs-Dean, Chesney, Oliver, Wang, Obreshkova, Spencer, Englund and Diederen.
PY - 2024/7/24
Y1 - 2024/7/24
N2 - BACKGROUND: Cannabis users present an important group for investigating putative mechanisms underlying psychosis, as cannabis-use is associated with an increased risk of psychosis. Recent work suggests that alterations in belief-updating under uncertainty underlie psychosis. We therefore compared belief updating under uncertainty between cannabis and non-cannabis users.METHODS: 49 regular cannabis users and 52 controls completed the Space Game, via an online platform used for behavioral testing. In the task, participants were asked to predict the location of the stimulus based on previous information, under different uncertainty conditions. Mixed effects models were used to identify significant predictors of mean score, confidence, performance error and learning rate.RESULTS: Both groups showed decreased confidence in high noise conditions, and increased belief updating in more volatile conditions, suggesting that they could infer the degree and sources of uncertainty. There were no significant effects of group on any of the performance indices. However, within the cannabis group, frequent users showed worse performance than less frequent users.CONCLUSION: Belief updating under uncertainty is not affected by cannabis use status but could be impaired in those who use cannabis more frequently. This finding could show a similarity between frequent cannabis use and psychosis risk, as predictors for abnormal belief-updating.
AB - BACKGROUND: Cannabis users present an important group for investigating putative mechanisms underlying psychosis, as cannabis-use is associated with an increased risk of psychosis. Recent work suggests that alterations in belief-updating under uncertainty underlie psychosis. We therefore compared belief updating under uncertainty between cannabis and non-cannabis users.METHODS: 49 regular cannabis users and 52 controls completed the Space Game, via an online platform used for behavioral testing. In the task, participants were asked to predict the location of the stimulus based on previous information, under different uncertainty conditions. Mixed effects models were used to identify significant predictors of mean score, confidence, performance error and learning rate.RESULTS: Both groups showed decreased confidence in high noise conditions, and increased belief updating in more volatile conditions, suggesting that they could infer the degree and sources of uncertainty. There were no significant effects of group on any of the performance indices. However, within the cannabis group, frequent users showed worse performance than less frequent users.CONCLUSION: Belief updating under uncertainty is not affected by cannabis use status but could be impaired in those who use cannabis more frequently. This finding could show a similarity between frequent cannabis use and psychosis risk, as predictors for abnormal belief-updating.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85200666813&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1309868
DO - 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1309868
M3 - Article
C2 - 39114739
SN - 1664-0640
VL - 15
SP - 1309868
JO - Frontiers in Psychiatry
JF - Frontiers in Psychiatry
M1 - 1309868
ER -