Research Paper The International Journal of Indian Psychology ISSN 2348-5396 (e) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) Volume 8, Issue 1,DIP: 18.01.023/20200801 DOI: 10.25215/0801.023 http://www.ijip.in | January- March, 2020 © 2020, D Ekanand & E J E Rajan; licensee IJIP. This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Visual retention and inhibition of cognitive interference among adolescents with cannabis use Deeksha Ekanand 1 *, Emilda Judith Ezhil Rajan 2 ABSTRACT Substance abuse is defined as a pathological use of alcohol or drugs, characterized by daily intoxication, inability to reduce consumption, and impairment in social or occupational functioning. Cannabis is one of the most commonly used recreational drugs among adolescents. Though cannabis was being used in India for over centuries for medicinal and recreational purposes, it is now one of the widely abused drugs of choice among the youth. Various researchers have contradictory views on neuropsychological effects of cannabis. With the objective of understanding the ability to inhibit cognitive interference among adolescents with cannabis use disorder the current study has selected 20 adolescent cannabis users and healthy participants each. The participants were matched by age and screened for individuals who met the inclusion/exclusion criteria of the study. The ability to retain visual stimulus was assessed using Benton Visual retention test and the ability to inhibit cognitive interference was assessed using Stroop Test. Findings reveal that there is significant difference in visual retention ability among cannabis users after a period of brief abstinence in comparison to healthy adolescents whereas no significant difference was observed in inhibition of cognitive interference among both the groups. Keywords: Cannabis Use, Visual Retention, Inhibition, Cognitive Interference It is a known fact that exposure to illicit and legal drugs is harmful to the brain. Developing brain is susceptible to the effects of drug and its abuse. Biological processes that ideally contribute in the development of executive function of the brain tend to be compromised due to exposure of illicit drug use during adolescence (Rosner, 2013). Addiction is a chronic disease of brain that interferes with the reward, motivation, memory and related circuits of the brain Dysfunction in these circuits leads to characteristic biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations. This is reflected in an individual’s pathologically pursuing reward and/or relief by substance use and other behaviours (American Society of Addiction Medicine, 2011). 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, JSS Hospital , Mysore , Karnataka, India 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research , Porur , Chennai, India *Responding Author Received: January 13, 2020; Revision Received: February 7, 2020; Accepted: February 25, 2020