So neuroscientists at Rutgers University looked at rats as the test subjects and found that normal functioning brain cells in the hippocampus often synchronize their electrical activity. But when the scientists injected the rats with THC, or a synthetic drug that is identical in nature, the brain areas began working out of synchronization. The individual parts were working, but not necessarily working together. The brain regions did not change how often they fired nerve impulses, but their timing became irregular. The author of this article relates these findings to an orchestra, imagine an orchestra where all the instruments were still playing their parts, but not in a uniform and together fashion. The music from the orchestra would not be as pleasant as a well-timed orchestra.
There was a test that was designed to show memory deficits in the rats after THC had been injected. The rats were to learn which way to travel a maze to get to the water at the end. What the researchers found was that as the brain cells became less synchronized under the influence of the drug, they began making many more mistakes. This test suggests how crucial cell synchronization is for the formation of memories.
The article also briefly talked about how marijuana can actually help people who are plagued with epilepsy because they found that many seizures are caused by the brain cells actually being too synchronized. The fact that marijuana could help epilepsy is still unclear because some other animal tests have also showed that marijuana can also provoke fits.
With the information given, do you think this is enough evidence to prove that marijuana does hurt memory? Are rats a good animal to use to relate to human reaction to the drugs? What about the benficial side-effects such as helping patients with epilepsy?
http://www.livescience.com/1134-marijuana-impairs-memory.html
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