ArticlePsychopharmacology2015
fNIRS suggests increased effort during executive access in ecstasy polydrug users.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of executive functioning in ecstasy/polydrug users.Psychological medicine · 2016Pooled it
- No differences in inhibitory control or prefrontal activation during a cannabis cue stop-signal task across CUDIT-R-defined CUD-risk groups.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Application of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy for Evidence-Based Psychotherapy.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Differential therapeutic effects of atomoxetine and methylphenidate in childhood attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder as measured by near-infrared spectroscopy.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEcstasy use is associated with cognitive impairment, believed to result from damage to 5-HT axons. Neuroimaging techniques to investigate executive dysfunction in ecstasy users provide a more sensitive measure of cognitive impairment than behavioural indicators. The present study assessed executive access to semantic memory in ecstasy polydrug users and non-users.
methodsTwenty ecstasy polydrug users and 20 non-user controls completed an oral variant of the Chicago Word Fluency Test (CWFT), whilst the haemodynamic response to the task was measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
resultsThere were no between-group differences in many background measures including measures of sleep and mood state (anxiety, arousal, hedonic tone). No behavioural differences were observed on the CWFT. However, there were significant differences in oxy-Hb level change at several voxels relating to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and right medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) during the CWFT, indicating increased cognitive effort in ecstasy users relative to controls. Regression analyses showed that frequency of ecstasy use, total lifetime dose and amount used in the last 30 days was significant predictors of oxy-Hb increase at several voxels after controlling for alcohol and cannabis use indices.
conclusionThe results suggest that ecstasy users show increased activation in the PFC as a compensatory mechanism, to achieve equivalent performance to non-users. These findings are in agreement with much of the literature in the area which suggests that ecstasy may be a selective serotonin neurotoxin in humans.
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