Long-Term Effects of Chronic Khat Use: Impaired Inhibitory Control

[摘要] So far no studies have systematically looked into the cognitive consequences of khat use. This study compared the ability to inhibit and execute behavioral responses in adult khat users and khat-free controls, matched in terms of age, race, gender distribution, level of intelligence, alcohol and cannabis consumption. Response inhibition and response execution were measured by a stop-signal paradigm. Results show that users and non-users are comparable in terms of response execution but users need significantly more time to inhibit responses to stop signals than non-users.

[学科分类] 心理学（综合）

[关键词] khat;SSRT;dopamine;stop-signal task;chronic use;long-term effect