Cognitive performance recovery following marijuana cessation in NCAA division I athletes

Cannabis use is increasingly common among collegiate athletes. While acute tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) effects are well documented, the chronic impact on game-speed cognition, defined as the ability to perceive, decide, and act within sub-second windows, remains poorly quantified. The current study examined whether chronic THC use degrades football specific game-speed cognition and reaction times.

Eighteen NCAA Division I football players who tested positive for THC completed the S2 Cognition Football Battery at baseline and again after 12 months of verified abstinence. The battery yields nine primary cognitive processes (Perception Speed, Search Efficiency, Tracking Capacity, Visual Learning, Instinctive Learning, Decision Complexity, Impulse Control, Distraction Control, Improvisation) and an overall S2 Composite, plus two secondary summary measures; reaction speed and decision accuracy. Paired t-tests and linear mixed-effects models (controlling for reaction speed) assessed change.

At baseline, chronic users showed approximately 20% slower reaction speed relative to their own post-abstinence values [t(17) = -5.84, p < .001], consistent with an ∼80-100 ms delay in decision execution. Significant improvements were observed in Decision Complexity, Distraction Control, Impulse Control, Multiple-Object Tracking, Speeded Target Detection, Improvisation, and the S2 Composite (all p < .002, Holm Method-corrected). Effects persisted after controlling for reaction speed, indicating domain-specific recovery beyond global speeding.

Chronic THC use imposes a measurable performance cost by slowing speeded decision-making and degrading attention and control processes that support play execution; these effects are partially reversible with abstinence. Findings provide an objective, performance-based framework for athlete education.