Study points to cannabis' effect on emotion processing
A study published Feb. 29 in the journal PLOS ONE suggests that cannabis does, in fact, significantly affect users' ability to recognize, process and empathize with human emotions like happiness, sadness and anger. But the results also suggest that the brain may be able to counteract these effects depending on whether the emotions are explicitly, or implicitly detected. Troup has long been fascinated by the psychology of drugs and addiction. Her interest in cannabis and marijuana was piqued by Colorado's passage of Amendment 64, and many seemingly conflicting studies of the drug's long- and short-term effects on the brain. "We're not taking a pro or anti stance; but we just want to know, what does it do? It's really about making sense of it," Troup said. For nearly two years, Troup and her graduate students have been conducting experiments using an electroencephalogram ( EEG ) to measure the brain activities of about 70 human subject volunteers.