Personality, not cognition, distinguishes chronic ayahuasca and cannabis users from non-users
Abstract
The increasing interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and cannabis underscores the need to understand their long-term neuropsychological and personality effects. This cross-sectional study compared regular users of ayahuasca (n = 69), cannabis (n = 56), and non-substance users (n = 94) on a battery of neuropsychological tasks and psychological questionnaires. Participants were matched by age, education, and IQ and abstained from drug use for at least 10-30 days before assessment. No significant group differences were observed in neuropsychological performance. However, multinomial regression analyses revealed that personality traits best distinguished the user groups. Ayahuasca users exhibited significantly higher self-transcendence and lower harm avoidance and persistence, while cannabis users were associated with higher novelty seeking and impulsive nonconformity, as well as lower introvertive anhedonia. These results persisted after controlling for demographics and psychiatric history. Contrary to previous findings associating cannabis with neurocognitive impairments and psychopathology, no significant deficits were found in the abstinent cannabis users. Similarly, ayahuasca users, despite a higher lifetime prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders, showed no current psychopathological symptoms. Our findings suggest that chronic use of ayahuasca or cannabis is not associated with detectable lasting neuropsychological impairments in the executive and working…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a cross-sectional, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 94 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- The neurocircuitry of addiction: an overview
- Gender Differences in Human Brain: A Review
- Stratified medicine for mental disorders
- The neurobiology of drug addiction: cross-species insights into the dysfunction and recovery of the prefrontal cortex
- Annual Research Review: DNA methylation as a mediator in the association between risk exposure and child and adolescent psychopathology
- Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.