Cannabis-associated impairments in the fading affect bias and autobiographical memory specificity.

Chronic cannabis users show a reduced fading affect bias for unpleasant memories and less detailed recall of autobiographical events compared to non-users. The fading affect bias is a normal emotional regulation process in which the intensity of negative memories fades faster than that of positive ones. In this study, 47 cannabis users and 52 non-users recalled and rated positive and negative events and completed a memory specificity task. Cannabis users exhibited less fading of negative affect over time and lower memory specificity, suggesting cannabis use may interfere with adaptive emotional processing and memory detail.

Study at a glance

Abstract

We investigated potential relationships between cannabis use and 2 phenomena associated with autobiographical remembering: the fading affect bias (FAB) and memory specificity. The FAB is an emotional affect regulation mechanism that is observed when the intensity of affect associated with experiencing negative memories fades faster than the intensity of affect associated with experiencing positive memories. Memory specificity refers to the level of detail with which events are recalled. No studies have examined the relationships between cannabis use, the FAB, and memory specificity simultaneously. Chronic cannabis users (N = 47) and non-users (N = 52) recalled and described positive and negative autobiographical events and rated the affective intensity for the events at the time of occurrence and at time of test. Participants retrieved additional memories using a sentence-completion recall task, which were coded for specificity. Cannabis users showed reduced fading affect for unpleasant events and reduced memory specificity compared to non-users.