The effects of haloperidol upon temporal information processing by patients with Tourette's syndrome

Tourette's syndrome patients treated successfully with haloperidol, untreated patients, and healthy controls were studied with tests of temporal discrimination and measures of transmitted information shown previously to be sensitive to brain dysfunction. Untreated patients showed no impairment of temporal processing while those treated with haloperidol showed significant deficit in amount of transmitted information comparable to prior studies of brain syndromes.

Long-term lithium treatment: effect on simulated driving and other psychological tests

The effect of lithium administered for six months on simulated car driving and other psychological tests was studied in patients with Menière's disease. The dose of lithium was adjusted every two weeks to maintain the serum level between 0.7 and 1.0 mmol/1. The trial was double-blind and cross-over in type, the effect of lithium being compared with a placebo. The subjects were within the normal range of Beck's depression scale and Marke-Nyman's temperament scale. Lithium was found neither to influence the simulated driving nor to affect the scores in the two rating scales. The only specific complaints observed during lithium treatment were tremor and increased thirst.

Marijuana and ethanol: differential effects on time perception, heart rate, and subjective response

Performance on a time production task, heart rate, and subjective responses were studied in twelve male sujects given oral doses of marijuana (0.7 mg of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol/kg), ethanol (1.0 ml/kg), and placebo, on three testing days which were each separated by 1 week. Orders were balanced across subjects and testing conditions were double-blind. Compared to ethanol and placebo, marijuana induced a significant under-production of time intervals, suggesting an acceleration of the internal rate of time perception. The onset of this acceleration of time sense in which geophysical time seemed to pass slowly corresponded with the characteristic increase in heart rate and the onset of the subjective feelings of drug effects. Initial phases of alcohol intoxication were associated with the opposite effects on the time production task. These findings replicate previous work and indicate that an easily administered time production task provides a consistent, non-motor measure of acute marijuana intoxication and also reflects ethanol intoxication.

Effects of fructose-1,6-diphosphate administration on learning efficiency and time sense of the honey bee, Apis mellifica carnica

In discrimination experiments honey bees had to decide between two glass dishes, one placed on a black cross, the other 40 cm away on a black square. In spontaneous selections the bees in 70% of all cases chose the black cross. The bees were then trained to search back and forth between the cross and the square until after 5 min sugar-water was given on the black square. Over a total of 5 learning trials, during which multiple decisions had been made by the searching insects, 96% of all choices were in favour of the black square. If 80 mM fructose-1,6-diphosphate (F-1,6-P2) in 1 M glucose had been ingested by the bees 30 min before the first spontaneous choice, learning was facilitated with 83% deciding in favour of the black square at the first trial compared with 46% of the controls (which had been fed on 1 M glucose only). In both groups of bees the same number of flight approches was made to the cross or square as made by the bees searching for 5 min before the reward was given. Thus no change in general activity or harvesting motivation appears to be induced by F-1,6-P2. When F-1,6-P2 had been given at the end of a successful learning series the bees favoured the black square for up to 3 days. In contrast to the controls no new incentive needed to be given during this period. Ingestion of other metabolites proved either ineffective, as in the case of fructose-6-phosphate or 5'-adenosine monophosphate, or, as observed after feeding citrate plus 3-phosphoglycerate, even reduced the performance. To test the effect of F-1,6P2 on the same time sense (circadian rhythm), bees were trained on three successive days to visit a feeding place at a specific time of day. The control bees which ingested only glucose on the evening of the 3rd day returned at their entrained 24-h interval on the 4th day. In contrast, the maximum frequency of appearance of bees fed on F-1,6-P2 was advanced by one hour, with minor appearance peaks at earlier hours of the day.

The effect of minor tranquilizers on psychomotor performance

The effect of a standard daily regimen of chlordiazepoxide, prazepam (a new benzodiazepine tranquilizer), and placebo were examined in a three way double-blind comparison for a sample of normal volunteers. The criteria include a limited spectrum of psychomotor functions. A learning effect was conspicuous for all drugs on all criteria during the day-long sequence of ten trials. For the most part the differences between the drug groups were insignificant, but there were distinctive modifications in the performance of the chlordiazepoxide group. The clearest effect of the tranquilizer medications was found in the time estimation tests. Paradoxically, the drugs correct a naturally occurring perceptual error.

Drug patterns in the chronic marijuana user

The study examined the drug patterns and attitudes of a heavy marijuana user sample drawn from the local "counter-culture." The results indicate that the heavier marijuana user has a different subjective attitude and perception of the drug's effect than a light user. Second, multiple drug usage is, in general, the current and accepted mode within the sample. Finally, it appears that age of initial usage of a specific agent, duration, frequency of usage, and perceived drug effects may be dependent variables with reference to heavy marijuana and multiple drug usage. With respect to these variables, the question arises concerning what proportion of lighter drug using samples may, with time, adopt heavier and more varied drug patterns.

Interactions in man of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. II. Cannabinol and cannabidiol

Oral doses of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) 20 mg, combined with placebo or with 40 mg dses of cannabinol (CBN) and cannabidiol (CBD), were given to volunteers. The combination of THC with CBN produced no detectable changes in the quality, intensity, or duration of the effects of THC alone. The THC-CBD combination tended to delay onset and prolong effects of THC, while making them somewhat more intense. Even this interactive effect was slight, providing no reason to abandon the current practice of basing doses of marihuana for clinical studies solely on THC content.

Dose effects of smoked marihuana on human cognitive and motor functions

Graded doses of marihuana were administered to five adults in a longitudinal repeated-measurements design. Speed of response was the basic parameter measured accross tests of increasing cognitive involvement. Marihuana produced significant dose-response effects of impaired performance in all test scores. However, single automatic motor abilities demonstrated greater sensitivity than tests of greater complexity. Evidence is presented for tolerance development.

[Clinical and electroencephalographic observations during the acute action of hashish (author's transl)]

The physical and mental reactions were registered before and after smoking 2 g hashish in 30 volunteers who had never smoked hashish before. The EEG shows no pathological changes. Hashish significantly raises the heart rate. The blood pressure shows a tendency to fall. The cardiovascular disturbances may be so marked that collapse occurs. The reaction of fear after acute hashish intoxication may lead to unpleasant defense reactions. Hashish implies a danger to road traffic because of the physical ataxia and alterations in appreciation of time and space.

Free operant avoidance in rats under increased nitrogen pressures

Rats performed on a free operant avoidance schedule with a response-shock interval of 20 sec. and a shock-shock interval of 2 sec. Avoidance response rates increased and shock frequency decreased when the rats were exposed to elevated pressures of both air and a nitrogen-oxygen mixture in a hyperbaric chamber. Increases in response rates were related to raised partial pressures of nitrogen at 89.0 psi and 111.3 psi. Conditional probabilities of interresponse times indicated that increases in response rates were not due to disruption of temporal discrimination. Increased avoidance rates under pressure suggested direct excitatory effects of high pressures of nitrogen.

Dimethyl sulfoxide therapy in nonmongoloid infantile oligophrenia

We are herein submitting the results obtained with a group of 13 nonmongoloid, oligophrenic children after 180 days' treatment with DAT, and we have compared the results with those of a control group that received only conventional treatment. The children were examined before and after the treatment by means of the Binet-Simon tests, which have been standardized by Kuhlmann, and the Wise and Terman Merrill test. The control of organic lesion was determined by the Bender test. The variation mean of the control group was 0.08, and that of the DAT-treated group was 0.954; 0.874 was the mean difference, and 0.543 and 1.205 were the degrees of reliability. The difference between the results obtained from the DAT-treated group and the one that received conventional medication was significant (P equal 0.01). None of the 13 cases treated showed any signs of toxicity.

Effects of marihuana in laboratory animals and in man

1 The pharmacological potencies of the resins from three different samples of Brazilian marihuana (A, B and C) were determined through corneal areflexia in rabbits, decrease of spontaneous motor activity and induction of catatonia in mice, and decrease of rope climbing performance of rats.2 The Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta(9) THC) content of the marihuanas, measured by gas chromatography, was 0.82, 2.02 and 0.52%, respectively, for samples A, B and C. Approximately 2% cannabinol was present in samples A and B whereas the content of cannabidiol was approximately 0.1%.3 The petroleum ether extraction of the samples A, B and C yielded, respectively, 12.06, 14.56 and 4.26% of resin.4 In all animal tests resin B was nearly twice as active as resin A, whereas C was the weakest.5 The smoke of the marihuana samples was inhaled by 33 human subjects, under a double-blind standardized procedure. Pulse rate, a time production task and an evaluation of psychological effects were recorded.6 The smoke of 250 mg of sample B provoked disruption of the time production task, increased pulse rate, and induced strong psychological reactions in four of the six subjects who received it. Similar effects, although slightly smaller, were obtained with 500 mg of sample A. On the other hand, 500 mg of sample C did not differ from placebo.7 It is suggested that it is possible by means of animal tests to predict the potency of a marihuana sample in man.8 In parallel experiments, Delta(9)-THC was administered to other human subjects and to laboratory animals in a manner similar to that in which the marihuana samples were administered.9 Comparison of the results between the marihuanas and Delta(9)-THC showed that in man and in the laboratory animals marihuanas A and B induced effects two to four times greater than expected from their Delta(9)-THC content.10 It is suggested that there may be potentiation of the effects of Delta(9)-THC by other substances present in these marihuana samples.

Changing time perception with antidepressant drug therapy

A pilot study on the time sense of ten depressed patients was performed before and during, as well as after, antidepressant therapy with tricyclic compounds. Short time spans were measured by two methods, giving then two different tasks. Measurements were performed in the morning as well as evening hours, in order to take into account diuranl variations. Accuracy of time estimation was considerably deviant. All except one patient overestimated time. With improvement, time sense also improved. Errors were still greater in the morning. The value of the results are discussed.

Cognitive effects of marijuana, described in terms of a model of attention

The cognitive effects of marijuana are best described and organized in terms of a model of attention. Sack's model includes three factors of attention: resistance to distraction, set-shifting, and field articulation. The acute cognitive effects can be seen as decrements in resisting distraction and in shifting set, i.e., voluntarily shifting the focus of one's attention. Chronic use of the drug seems to cause similar decrements, although the evidence for them is not as strong. Further research is needed, using longitudinal studies so that measurements of attention before and after drug use will be available.

Cannabis and temporal disintegration in experienced and naive subjects

The effects of 3.3 and 6.6 milligrams of Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol and of placebo on performance of three cognitive tasks were compared for naive subjects and experienced cannabis smokers. No differences in performance or reported subjective effects were found between these two groups. A significant decrement was found following dosage at both levels, replicating earlier findings of temporal disintegration during cannabis intoxication.

9 -tetrahydrocannabinol: dose-related effects on timing behavior in chimpanzee

Delta(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol, at doses within the effective range for humans, was administered orally to chimpanzees with stable, efficient timing performances maintained by multilink chained schedules of food reinforcement. Reinforcements decreased with increasing dose, because of decreased frequencies of total operant timing responses and decreased accuracy of the timing performances which did occur. Higher doses exerted an effect for up to 3 days.

Pilot studies on stimulant effects of capsicum spices

In four experiments with a total of 22 healthy normalsubjects, capsicum spices were tested as to their psychostimulant effects. Two mental-stress experiments involving mental and psychomotor tests, mood ratings and self-report techniques and two monotony experiments involving an acoustical vigilance task were performed. Self-reports showed positive effects, when pooled over all four experiments, but no effects in performance variables could be demonstrated. Thus, it appears that capsicum spices in a relatively high dose may have psychotropic stimulant effects in healthy subjects. However, the effects seem to be weak.

Marihuana and temporal disintegration

High oral doses of marihuana extract, calibrated for content of 1 (-)-Delta(1)-tetrahydrocannabinol, significantly impaired the serial coordination of cognitive operations during a task that required sequential adjustments in reaching a goal. This disintegration of sequential thought is related to impaired immediate memory.