Ecstasy use and higher-level cognitive functions: weak effects of ecstasy after control for potential confounds
Psychological Medicine September 1, 2008 G. Bedi, J. Redman 68 citations
Heavy ecstasy use is associated with some lowering of higher-level cognitive functions, but not with substantial cognitive dysfunction. A study comparing 45 abstinent ecstasy polydrug users, 48 cannabis polydrug users, and 40 legal drug users found no clear differences between groups on tests of attention, memory, and executive function. Lifetime dose of ecstasy was inversely linked to verbal memory performance, and a combination of drug-use variables, including ecstasy, predicted attention and working memory, though each factor explained only 1–6% of the variance in scores.