Marijuana and the Working Memory (Research Proposal Sample)

Marijuana and the Working Memory
Name:
Institution Affiliation:
Instructions
Report #3, you will
(1) state the title of your Final Report,
(2) state your argumentative thesis statement,
(3) define your audience,
(4) write an Argumentative Requirement Fulfillment Statement,
(5) produce a detailed outline of your Final Report, and
(6) create an annotated bibliography. I will discuss each of these components in turn: 
Outline
1 The Title of the Report: The Effects of Marijuana on the Working Memory
2 The Thesis Statement: Frequent use of marijuana results in permanent deficits in working memory
3 The Effect of Marijuana on the Working Memory
* Frequent use of Marijuana results in permanent deficits in working memory – An introduction to the report.
* Facts disputing the possibility of marijuana affecting the working memory – A brief overview of facts against the thesis statement
* More insightful facts advocating that frequent use of cannabis leads to deficits in working memory – Deeper insight into the report, revealing the facts that advocate for the adverse effects of marijuana use on the mind
4 Outline and Annotated Bibliography – A reference with all the sources of work used in the report. Each source will be discussed in detail and its relevance to the topic assessed.
Title
The Effects of Marijuana on the Working Memory
Thesis Statement
Frequent use of marijuana results in permanent deficits in working memory
Audience
This study has been conducted considering the average American with a college or university education as the audience. The audience may also have an interest in drug abuse, the process that drugs go through to stimulate the mind, and the associated effects of drug abuse. Robert Crane, the instructor of this course, is also considered an audience.
Argumentative Requirement Fulfilment Statement
A myriad of studies have sought to find a link between marijuana use and working memory among psychiatrically healthy persons. However, the results obtained so far have remained relatively complex. Nevertheless, reviews conducted among psychiatrically healthy individuals who use marijuana on a regular basis have revealed decreased performance on both primary and secondary functions associated with the working memory (Vadhan, 2009). This section begins by discussing the arguments that dispute the negative effects that cannabis has on the brain, and then progresses to discuss the arguments that support the thesis statement.
Section A
Some studies disagree with the fact that marijuana affects the working memory adversely. For instance, researchers from the University of California, San Diego, reveal that smoking marijuana has an effect on perception but does not cause permanent brain damage. Dr. Igor Grand, a professor at the UCSD, asserted that the findings were somewhat unbelievable: marijuana has no effect on higher mental function. He added that other illegal substances, or even alcohol, can be attributed to brain damage (Beasley, 2003).
In a separate study, Janna Cousijn, a neuroscience researcher based at the University of Amsterdam, states that cannabis may have no effect on brain functioning. However, some factors may accelerate the development of effects of people who have used marijuana for extended periods. Cousijn also pointed out that differences in the workings of the brain also impact how cannabis affects the brain (Silverberg, 2014).
In yet another study, cannabis was seen to offer therapeutic value. Marijuana helped individuals control vomiting and nausea, relieve pain and stimulate appetite. The study also revealed that persons suffering from AIDS or undergoing chemotherapy benefited from the administration of cannabis (Joy et al., n.d.).
Section B
However, as much as the evidence supporting the lack of a relationship between cannabis and working memory is immense, the research connecting the two is overwhelming. Studies inclined toward revealing the link between excessive cannabis use, and the glaucortoid receptor system (located in the hippocampus) have published some insightful findings. After the administration of THC to the rat brain in high quantities, elevated corticosterone secretion and stress exposure were realised. Research reveals that excessive use of cannabis affects how the body responds to stimuli: stress and metabolic changes. As a result, very little activity may be experienced in the brain; researchers claim that this is unhealthy since the mind is not in gear (Steinberg and Vissing, 1998).
In addition to the above, scientists have connected THC to the dampening of the hippocampus neurons in the brain to a level that is below one required to form a memory. Thus, if THC is administered in a manner that is excessive and continual, hippocampal neuron activity is brought down. Also, the interconnection of neurons becomes harder, and, by extension, memories become even more difficult to retrieve. In addition, studies, through brain imaging, have demonstrated that marijuana users, on most occasions, have smaller hippocampus and poor memories, compared to marijuana users (Harris, 2012).
Studies proving the above assertion have been conducted. For instance, research carried out in New Zealand, which involved approximately 1,000 participants aged 3 to 38 supported some findings that had been made previously. At age 13, all participants participated in an engagement battery that included an IQ test, processing speed, executive functioning, and memory. The survey was done at this age (13) because a substantial number of the respondents in the study had not engaged in marijuana abuse. The same test was administered to all participants again at age 38. The researchers collected information regarding marijuana use at all assessment time points. Using this information, the authors were able to determine how marijuana use impacted neuro psych performance by comparing the data of the various individuals from ages 13 to 38 (Harris, 2012).
The results of the above findings revealed a significant relationship between years of being dependent on marijuana and IQ scores. On average, individuals who had never used marijuana had an increased score of about 99.8 at age 13 to 100.6 and age 38. On the other side, persons who used marijuana for extended periods experienced a significant drop: from 99.7 to 93.9. The same results were realised even after factors such as tobacco, alcohol, and related drug use were confounded (Harris, 2012).
Additional studies were conducted to unearth the relationship between the age that the respondents began using marijuana and change in IQ. The findings revealed that the individuals to begun using cannabis before they reached age 18 lost more IQ when compared to those who abused the drug after age 18. The study also revealed that the individuals who quit marijuana use before age 38 but had begun using cannabis before they were age 18, still experienced significant drops in their IQs. However, those who begun using marijuana after they were 18 showed little or no difference in IQ drop. Thus, the before-mentioned reveals that abusing marijuana during the brain’s critical development period can result in brain damage. Individuals experienced adverse effects on the brain even when drug use was discontinued during adulthood (Harris, 2012).
Section C
Further research complements the above arguments. Working memory, including delayed matching to sample (DTMS) and spatial n-back tasks, is affected by extensive cannabis use. A significant number of studies relating to working memory and marijuana use have proven that cannabis affects working memory (Jagger et al., 2006). Research carried out on heavy cannabis users, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), reveals that marijuana users made many errors when required to perform relatively simple tasks. The same study also revealed that brain activation was realised in regions of the brain associated with spatial memory tasks: the anterior cingulate, the prefrontal cortex, and the basal ganglia areas. The researchers stated that the reason for this was subtle neuropsychological deficits. These were compensated for by gathering energy from other parts of the brain to meet the demands of the task at hand (Solowij and Battisti, 2008). In particular, heightened activation of the anterior cingulate was described as an increased effort by the mind to overcome the attentional impairments induced by cannabis.
In addition, an fMRI was administered to a small sample of teenagers performing an n-back working memory task who were cannabis, users. The results obtained revealed that, on average, the non-smokers performed better than the smokers. In fact, on some measures, tobacco smokers performed better than the cannabis users. Also, users exhibited an inability to switch off the right hippocampus across tasks in contrast to the non-users. This, according to the researchers, was indicative of a dysfunction of the hippocampal inhibitory interneurons (Solowij and Battisti, 2008).
In verbal learning and memory, cannabis use has been associated with impaired cognitive functioning. In extreme cases, cannabis users have been said to experience difficulty when it came to recalling words, suffered greater intrusion errors, and even failed to learn over trials. In addition, reduced event-related potential (ERP) differences of words that had been acquired earlier and new distracting words occurred among subjects who were acutely intoxicated. Researchers stated that this suggested the disruption of neural mechanisms that helped in maintaining memory for recently acquired information (Crean et al., 2011).
Lastly, an fMRI revealed that Hippocampal-dependent associative memory was reflected in individuals that were moderate cannabis users, compared ...