Real-world memory and executive processes in cannabis users and non-users http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/1101/ Article LJMU has developed LJMU Research Online for users to access the research output of the University more effectively. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LJMU Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain.The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of the record. Please see the repository URL above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.For more information please contact researchonline@ljmu.ac.uk http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/ Citation (please note it is advisable to refer to the publisher's version if you intend to cite from this work) The relationships between executive processes, associative learning and different aspects of real world memory functioning were explored in a sample of cannabis users and nonusers. Measures of executive component processes, associative learning, everyday memory, prospective memory, and cognitive failures were administered. Relative to nonusers, cannabis users were found to be impaired in several aspects of real world memory functioning. No other group differences were apparent. The absence of cannabis related deficits in those executive component processes and aspects of learning that are believed to support real world memory processes is surprising given that cannabis related deficits were obtained in real world memory. The present results are discussed within the context of neuroimaging evidence which suggests that cannabis users may exhibit different patterns of neural activation when performing executive tasks while not always exhibiting deficits on these tasks.Keywords: Cannabis, executive processes, prospective memory, cognitive failures 3 The focus of the present paper is real world memory functioning in abstinent cannabis users. More specifically we intend to explore the basis of cannabis-related deficits in prospective memory, everyday memory, and cognitive failures, and the extent to which these impairments are underpinned by deficits in pre-frontal executive processes. Given that cannabis is clearly the most popular illicit drug in North America, Europe and in other parts of the world (Andersson et al, 2005) it is of considerable importance to investigate whether consumption of the drug is associated with cognitive deficits.Cannabis contains a number of chemical compounds collectively known as cannabinoids. The psychoactive properties of cannabis are mainly due to one of these cannabinoids, Π9 tetrahydrocannabinol, (THC). Animal studies have revealed that chronic administration of THC causes hippocampal damage and impairs maze learning in rats ...