Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34415377›Full record

SynthesisPsychopharmacology2022

Is resting-state functional connectivity altered in regular cannabis users? A systematic review of the literature.

Hannah Thomson, Izelle Labuschagne, Lisa-Marie Greenwood, Emily Robinson, Hannah Sehl, Chao Suo, Valentina Lorenzetti

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Psychopharmacology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
1.2field-weighted citation impact, top 23% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. ΔBiological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2026
    Trial
  4. Altered reward-related resting-state network properties in adolescent cannabis use and depression.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2026
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. The role of sex in the association between cannabis use disorder and resting-state functional connectivity.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Hannah ThomsonNeuroscience of Addiction and Mental Health Program, Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, Australian Catholic University, 17 Young Street, Fitzroy, VIC, 3065, Australia.
Izelle LabuschagneNeuroscience of Addiction and Mental Health Program, Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, Australian Catholic University, 17 Young Street, Fitzroy, VIC, 3065, Australia.
Lisa-Marie GreenwoodResearch School of Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
Emily RobinsonNeuroscience of Addiction and Mental Health Program, Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, Australian Catholic University, 17 Young Street, Fitzroy, VIC, 3065, Australia.
Hannah SehlNeuroscience of Addiction and Mental Health Program, Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, Australian Catholic University, 17 Young Street, Fitzroy, VIC, 3065, Australia.
Chao SuoBrainPark, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences and Monash Biomedical Imaging Facility, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
Valentina LorenzettiNeuroscience of Addiction and Mental Health Program, Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre, School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, Australian Catholic University, 17 Young Street, Fitzroy, VIC, 3065, Australia. valentina.lorenzetti@gmail.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5917-7068
Australian Catholic University · AUAustralian National University · AUMonash University · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

rationaleRegular cannabis use has been associated with brain functional alterations within frontal, temporal, and striatal pathways assessed during various cognitive tasks. Whether such alterations are consistently reported in the absence of overt task performance needs to be elucidated to uncover the core neurobiological mechanisms of regular cannabis use.

objectivesWe aim to systematically review findings from studies that examine spontaneous fluctuations of brain function using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in cannabis users versus controls, and the association between rsFC and cannabis use chronicity, mental health symptoms, and cognitive performance.

methodsWe conducted a PROSPERO registered systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and searched eight databases.

resultsTwenty-one studies were included for review. Samples comprised 1396 participants aged 16 to 42 years, of which 737 were cannabis users and 659 were controls. Most studies found greater positive rsFC in cannabis users compared to controls between frontal-frontal, fronto-striatal, and fronto-temporal region pairings. The same region pairings were found to be preliminarily associated with varying measures of cannabis exposure.

conclusionsThe evidence to date shows that regular cannabis exposure is consistently associated with alteration of spontaneous changes in Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent signal without any explicit cognitive input or output. These findings have implications for interpreting results from task-based fMRI studies of cannabis users, which may additionally tax overlapping networks. Future longitudinal rsFC fMRI studies are required to determine the clinical relevance of the findings and their link to the chronicity of use, mental health, and cognitive performance.

Indexed as

CannabisBrainBrain MappingCorpus StriatumHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingBrainCannabisConnectivityfMRIFunctional magnetic resonance imagingResting-state functional connectivityrsFCSeed-based connectivitySystematic review

Identifiers

PMID34415377
OpenAlexW3195130229

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.