Nicotine decreases attentional bias to negative-affect-related Stroop words among smokers.
The present study examined the hypothesis that nicotine is associated with reduced attentional bias to affective and smoking-related stimuli in a modified Stroop task. A total of 56 habitual smokers were each tested on 4 days with 14 mg nicotine patches and placebo patches, counterbalanced, as a within-subjects factor in a double-blind design. A modified Stroop using negative-affect words, smoking words, color words, and neutral words was presented via computer in blocked format. As predicted, nicotine, relative to placebo, was associated with decreased attentional bias to negative words. Nicotine speeded performance during smoking-word and color-word blocks to the same degree as during neutral words and thus appeared to also have a nonspecific performance-enhancing effect. In an exploratory analysis, nicotine-attention effects occurred only in the initial presentation of pairs of blocked word pages. Nicotine also was associated with improved mood. The results are discussed in terms of affect-attention and smoking literatures.
Rzetelny
Adam
A
M.A.Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, IL, USA. adamiz@yahoo.com
Gilbert
David G
DG
Hammersley
Jonathan
J
Radtke
Robert
R
Rabinovich
Norka E
NE
Small
Stacey L
SL
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects*; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects; D003463:Cues; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005731:Ganglionic Stimulants / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009538:Nicotine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011932:Reading; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology; D014796:Visual Perception
D005731:Ganglionic Stimulants; D009538:Nicotine