Acute nicotine fails to alter event-related potential or behavioral performance indices of auditory distraction in cigarette smokers.
Behavioral studies have shown that nicotine enhances performance in sustained attention tasks, but they have not shown convincing support for the effects of nicotine on tasks requiring selective attention or attentional control under conditions of distraction. We investigated distractibility in 14 smokers (7 females) with event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and behavioral performance measures extracted from an auditory discrimination task requiring a choice reaction time response to short- and long-duration tones, both with and without embedded deviants. Nicotine gum (4 mg), administered in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design, failed to counter deviant-elicited behavioral distraction (i.e., slower reaction times and increased response errors), and it did not influence the distracter-elicited mismatch negativity, the P300a, or the reorienting negativity ERP components reflecting acoustic change detection, involuntary attentional switching, and attentional reorienting, respectively. Results are discussed in relation to a stimulus-filter model of smoking and in relation to future research directions.
Knott
Verner J
VJ
University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Royal Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. vknott@rohcg.on.ca
Scherling
Carole S
CS
Blais
Crystal M
CM
Camarda
Jordan
J
Fisher
Derek J
DJ
Millar
Anne
A
McIntosh
Judy F
JF
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000187:drug effects; D005072:Evoked Potentials, Auditory / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009043:Motor Activity; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012907:Smoking / Q000503:physiopathology*
D009538:Nicotine