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Altered visual perception in long-term ecstasy (MDMA) users.

Claire White1, John Brown, Mark Edwards

  • 1Research School of Psychology, Australian National University, Building 39, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. claire.white@anu.edu.au

Psychopharmacology
|April 24, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) use may impair visual processing in the occipital lobe, leading to broader orientation tuning bandwidths and poorer contour integration in abstinent users.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Psychopharmacology
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), the psychoactive component of ecstasy, is known to affect the serotonin system.
  • Previous studies suggest long-term ecstasy use can alter visual processing in the occipital lobe, potentially broadening orientation tuning bandwidths.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate long-term effects of ecstasy use on visual processing in the occipital lobe.
  • To determine if amphetamine-abstinent ecstasy users exhibit altered orientation tuning bandwidths and contour integration compared to controls.

Main Methods:

  • A masking study measured orientation tuning bandwidths in controls, ecstasy users, and ecstasy + amphetamine users.
  • A contour integration task assessed long-range connections in the visual cortex of these groups.

Main Results:

  • Amphetamine-abstinent ecstasy users displayed significantly broader orientation tuning bandwidths compared to controls.
  • Ecstasy users showed significantly lower contour detection thresholds (indicating poorer performance) than both controls and ecstasy + amphetamine users.

Conclusions:

  • Findings support the hypothesis that ecstasy may induce long-term damage to the serotonin system.
  • Observed visual perception deficits in ecstasy users are consistent with serotonergic dysfunction in the occipital lobe.