Regular cannabis use is associated with altered neural and behavioural responses during anticipation and feedback of monetary reward and loss
Giada Lombardi, Grace Blest-Hopley, Martina Maria Tarantini, Aisling O’neill, Robin Wilson, Owen O’daly, Vincent Giampietro, Sagnik Bhattacharyya
medRxiv Preprint Server April 23, 2026 preprint DOI: 10.64898/2026.04.23.26351366 via medRxiv
Summary
Regular cannabis users show altered brain responses during reward anticipation and outcome processing, but their actual task performance does not differ from non-users. Using the Monetary Incentive Delay Task, the study found that cannabis users had reduced neural activity in reward-related brain regions during anticipation of potential gains and losses, yet their reaction times and accuracy were comparable to non-users. These findings suggest that regular cannabis use is associated with changes in reward-related brain function without corresponding behavioral deficits.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort |
|---|---|
| Population | Regular cannabis users and matched non-users |
| Key finding | Regular cannabis users exhibit altered neural correlates of reward processing during anticipation and outcome, but no differences in behavioral performance on the Monetary Incentive Delay Task compared with non-users. |
Abstract
Regular cannabis use has been associated with alterations in reward-related neural processes, yet findings remain inconsistent and the relationship between neural activity and behavioural performance is not fully understood. The present study aimed to characterise neural and behavioural correlates of reward processing in regular cannabis users (CU) compared with matched non-users (NU) using the Monetary Incentive Delay Task (MIDT).