title: The impact of imagining personalized versus standardized urge scenarios on cigarette craving and autonomic reactivity.
abstract: A cue-reactivity paradigm was used to investigate the effects of personalizing imagery materials on smokers' reactivity to smoking cues. Cigarette smokers (n = 60) described situations used to create 4 personalized imagery scripts: positive mood/urge, positive mood/no urge, neutral mood/urge, and neutral mood/no urge. Their reactivity to these scripts as well as 4 standardized imagery scripts and 4 personalized scripts of another smoker was assessed. Personalization led to greater vividness, positive mood, and relevance ratings compared with the other 2 script types. Personalization of urge material did not enhance craving beyond that generated by the other 2 script types but did suppress craving under no-urge conditions. Findings stand in contrast to current conceptualizations of craving regarding the proposed impact of personalization on craving and suggest alternative mechanisms by which imagery cues influence craving generation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907-1364, USA.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Conklin
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Tiffany
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology