Smoking cues in a virtual world provoke craving in cigarette smokers.
Twenty smoking-deprived cigarette smokers participated in a study to test the ability of smoking cues within a virtual world to provoke self-reported craving to smoke. Participants were exposed to 2 virtual-reality simulations displayed on a computer monitor: a control environment not containing any intentional smoking stimuli and a cue-exposure environment containing smoking stimuli. At various points, participants rated their urge to smoke on a scale of 0-100. Results indicated that baseline urge ratings were equivalent in both conditions, but the maximum increase in urge ratings was significantly higher in the cue-exposure environment than in the control environment. This is comparable to what in vivo studies have reported, but with the advantage of simulating more naturalistic and complex settings in a controlled environment.
Baumann
Stephen B
SB
Psychology Software Tools, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, US. steveb@pstnet.com.
Sayette
Michael A
MA
D000328:Adult; D000329:Advertising; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003463:Cues; D003867:Depth Perception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D012931:Social Environment; D014584:User-Computer Interface