Cannabis users exhibit increased cortical activation during resting state compared to non-users
NeuroImage June 9, 2018 S. Prashad, Elizabeth S. Dedrick, F. Filbey
Cannabis users show increased baseline brain activity and connectivity compared to non-users, suggesting a loss of neural refinement and efficiency that may contribute to cognitive impairments. Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings from 17 cannabis users and 21 non-using controls matched for age and sex revealed that cannabis users had decreased delta power and increased theta, beta, and gamma power, indicating greater cortical activation during rest. They also exhibited increased interhemispheric and intrahemispheric coherence, reduced mean network degree, and increased clustering coefficient in specific brain regions and frequency bands. Measures of cannabis use correlated with these electrophysiological signals, which may help track intervention effectiveness.