'Ecstasy users lose their ability to remember tasks'

Melbourne, Jan 10 : Ecstasy users can lose the their ability to remember basic tasks, suggests a new study.

The study, led by Dr Peter Rendell, a researcher at the Australian Catholic University, stated that even the infrequent users of drugs can forget to do basic errands, because of their memory.

"When we have to remember actions/intentions for the future, such as remembering to take medicine, make a phone call or turn off appliances, we call that prospective memory," News.com.au quoted Rendell, as saying.

"We know that ecstasy has a detrimental effect on our general recall of past events... but it also has a proven impact on our ability to remember regular and one-off tasks which still need to be done," he added.

The finding was made on the basis of a special board game that tested different types of prospective memory tasks.

Volunteers in the study who had used ecstasy had problems remembering both one-off and regular tasks.

"Prospective memory performance is sensitive to regular and even moderate ecstasy use," Rendell said.

"Importantly, ecstasy users experience generalised difficulties with prospective memory, suggesting that these deficits are likely to have important implications for day-to-day functioning," he added.

The study is published in the Psychopharmacology journal.

ANI