Abstract

RIGONI, Maisa dos Santos; DA SILVA OLIVEIRA, Margareth  and  ANDRETTA, Ilana. Neuropsychological consequences of cannabis use in adolescents and young adults. Ciênc. cogn. [online]. 2006, vol.8, pp.118-126. ISSN 1806-5821.

Abstract The interest in researches related to cannabis use has been increasing, indicating that this is the most used illicit drug among students in Brazil. The chronic use of cannabis may lead to cognitive losses. This article reviewed studies about neuropsychological consequences of cannabis use among adolescents and young adults, making use of data basis PsicInfo and Pro Quest between 2000 and 2005, using the following key words for the search: drugs, cannabis, adolescence, young people, teenager, cognitive evaluation, cognitive assessment and cognitive functions. The main library of PUCRS and the site SCIELO were also used. There are few articles about this theme, and most of them suggest significant changes in brain functioning as well as neuropsychological functioning in heavy cannabis users, affecting functions associated directly or indirectly to the prefrontal cortex, such as attention, memory, executive and psychomotor functions.© Ciências & Cognição 2006; Vol. 08: 118-126.

Keywords : adolescence; cannabis; cognitive functions.

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