Abstract
The free recall of pictures and words was compared following the administration of marijuana or placebo in a multitrial free recall task. Since pictures are thought to be registered in both visual and verbal memory stores with this encoding being mediated by some form of mental imagery, it was predicted that marijuana would produce a greater deficit in word recall in comparison to picture recall because the drug has been reported to facilitate imagery. A trend in the opposite direction followed intoxication; picture recall was inferior to word recall in the later stages of acquisition. Although overall recall was inferior under marijuana, no differences were found between the treatment conditions in subjective organization as determined by a variety of clustering measures. Recall performance following marijuana intoxication was positively related to level of recall performance in the placebo condition.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abel, E. L.: Marihuana and memory: acquisition or retrieval? Science 173, 1038–1040 (1971)
Ames, F. A.: A clinical and metabolic study of acute intoxication with cannabis sativa and its role in the model psychoses. J. Ment. Sci. 1048, 972–999 (1958)
Bousfield, W. A., Puff, C. R., Cowan, T. M.: The development of constancies in sequential organization during repeated free recall. J. Verb. Learn. Verb. Behav. 3, 489–495 (1964)
Clark, S. C.: Marihuana and the cardiovascular system. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 3, 299–306 (1975)
Cohen, G.: How are pictures registered in memory? Q. J. Exp. Psychol. 25, 557–564 (1973)
Darley, D. F., Tinklenberg, J. R.: Marijuana and memory. In: Marijuana: effects on human behavior, L. L. Miller, ed. New York: Academic Press 1974
Fagan, J. F.: Measuring verbal recall. II: the ITR score expressed as a ratio. Psychon. Sci. 11, 205 (1968)
Harshman, R. A., Crawford, H. F., Hecht, E.: Marijuana, cognitive style and lateralized hemispheric functions. In: The therapeutic potential of marijuana, S. Cohen and R. C. Stillman, eds. New York: Plenum Press 1976
Kelleher, R. T., Morse, W. H.: Determinants of the specificity of behavioral effects of drugs. Ergeb. Physiol. 60, 1–56 (1968)
Laurence, M. W.: Age difference in performance and subjective organization in the free recall learning of pictoral material. Can. J. Psychol. 20, 388–399 (1966)
Mandler, G.: Organization and memory. In: The psychology of learning and motivation, vol. 1, K. W. Spence and J. T. Spence, eds. New York: Academic Press 1967
Miller, L. L.: Marijuana and behavior: human and infrahuman comparisons. In: Marijuana: effects on human behavior, L. L. Miller, ed. New York: Academic Press 1974
Miller, L., Cornett, T., Brightwell, D., McFarland, D., Drew, W., Wikler, A.: Marijuana and memory impairment: The effect of retrieval cues on free recall. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 5, 639–643 (1976)
Miller, L., Cornett, T., Drew, W., McFarland, D., Brightwell, D., Wikler, A.: Marijuana: dose-response effects on pulse rate, subjective estimates of potency, pleasantness and recognition memory. Pharmacology 15, 268–275 (1977)
Milner, B.: Interhemispheric differences in the localization of psychological processes in man. Br. Med. Bull. 27, 272–277 (1960)
Pavio, A., Cspao, K.: Concrete image and verbal memory codes. J. Exp. Psychol. 80, 279–285 (1969)
Pearl, J., Domino, E. F., Rennick, P.: Short term effects of marijuana smoking on cognitive behavior in experienced male users. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 31, 13–24 (1973)
Pirch, J. H., Osternholm, K. C., Barratt, E. S., Cohen, R. A.: Marijuana enhancement of shuttle-box avoidance performance in rats. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 141, 590–592 (1972)
Puff, C. R.: Role of clustering in free recall. J. Exp. Psychol. 86, 384–386 (1970)
Shaffer, W., Shiffrin, R.: Rehearsal and storage of visual information. J. Exp. Psychol. 92, 292–296 (1972)
Shiffrin, R. M., Atkinson, R. C.: Storage and retrieval processes in long term memory. Psychol. Rev. 76, 179–193 (1969)
Shuell, T. J.: Clustering and organization in free recall. Psychol. Bull. 72, 353–374 (1969)
Sperry, R. W.: Hemisphere deconnection and unity in conscious awareness. Am. Sci. 23, 723–733 (1968)
Tart, C. T.: Marijuana intoxication: common experiences. Nature 226, 701–704 (1970)
Thorndike, E. L., Lorge, I.: The teachers handbook of 30,000 words. New York: Columbia University Press 1944
Tulving, E.: Subjective organization in free recall of “unrelated” words. Psychol. Rev. 69, 344–345 (1962)
Winer, B. J.: Statistical principles in experimental design, 2nd ed., p. 545. New York: McGraw-Hill 1962
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Miller, L.L., Mcfarland, D.J., Cornett, T.L. et al. Marijuana: Effects on free recall and subjective organization of pictures and words. Psychopharmacology 55, 257–262 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00497857
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00497857