Enhanced lexical processing of smoking stimuli during smoking abstinence.
In a group of heavy smokers, overnight abstinence from smoking facilitated the perception of briefly presented smoking words. Subjects in the nicotine-abstinent condition accurately identified significantly more smoking-related words than food-related or neutral words. However, a group tested in a non-abstinent condition showed no significant differences in ability to identify the three different word types. Smokers deprived of cigarettes were also significantly better able to categorize smoking words than non-abstinent subjects. These results demonstrate an abstinence-based facilitation of processing smoking-related stimuli at the semantic level, consistent with the hypothesis that smoking-related concepts are activated, or primed, during deprivation from nicotine.
Jarvik
M E
ME
West Los Angeles VA Medical Center Wadsworth, CA, USA.
Gross
T M
TM
Rosenblatt
M R
MR
Stein
R E
RE
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology; D010465:Perception; D012660:Semantics; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology
D009538:Nicotine