Schedule of Events | Symposia

Higher Thinking: The Influence of Cannabis on Thought Content and Dynamics

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Jen Burrell¹ (jenbur@psych.ubc.ca), Kailey Baxstrome¹, Shreya Kakachery¹, Kalina Christoff Hadjiilieva¹; ¹University of British Columbia

Nearly one-third of Canadians used cannabis in 2022, with 50% of young adults aged 20-24 reporting having tried cannabis in the previous year. The frequent use of recreational cannabis highlights the importance of understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying cannabis use. To date, cannabis research has largely focused on its adverse effects on executive functioning and memory. However, no research has directly examined the conscious experience of cannabis intoxication. In other words, we lack a basic scientific understanding of the altered state of consciousness engendered by cannabis consumption. To investigate the alterations in conscious experience elicited by cannabis, we measured the dynamics of participants’ thought streams during the Think Aloud paradigm, which were audio-recorded as they spoke aloud the contents of their conscious experience for 12 minutes. Participants identified as regular cannabis users, having used cannabis at least once a month over the prior three months, completed two 60-minute remote experimental sessions following the Naturalistic Cannabis Administration Protocol, one sober and one immediately following the inhalation of cannabis. Using a Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count style analysis, we investigated how acute cannabis use altered thought content, valence, and temporality. We found these metrics covaried with responses from experience sampling, allowing us to understand what changes are occurring in the stream of thought due to cannabis, and the perception of these changes from the perspective of the users. These findings begin to elucidate how cannabis acutely alters the way people think

Topic Area: THINKING: Other