Subliminal processing of smoking-related and affective stimuli in tobacco addiction.
Cognitive processing biases toward smoking-related and affective cues may play a role in tobacco dependence. Because processing biases may occur outside conscious awareness, the current study examined processing of smoking-related and affective stimuli presented at subliminal conditions. A pictorial subliminal repetition priming task was administered to three groups: (1) Nonsmokers (n = 56); (2) Smokers (> or =10 cigarettes/day) who had been deprived from smoking for 12 h (n = 47); and (3) Nondeprived smokers (n = 66). Prime stimuli were presented briefly (17 ms) and were followed by a mask (to render them unavailable to conscious awareness) and then a target. Participants were required to make a speeded classification to the target. A posttask awareness check was administered to ensure that participants could not consciously perceive the briefly presented primes (i.e., smoking paraphernalia, neutral office supplies, and happy, angry, and neutral facial expressions). The groups differed in the degree to which they exhibited a processing bias for smoking-related stimuli, F(2, 166) = 4.99, p = .008. Deprived smokers exhibited a bias toward processing smoking (vs. neutral office supply) stimuli, F(1, 46) = 5.67, p = .02, whereas nondeprived smokers and nonsmokers did not (ps > .22). The three groups did not differ in the degree to which they exhibited a subliminal processing bias for affective stimuli. Tobacco deprivation appears to increase smokers' subliminal processing of smoking-related (vs. neutral) stimuli but does not influence subliminal processing of affective stimuli. Future research should investigate whether subliminal biases toward smoking-related stimuli influence relapse.
Leventhal
Adam M
AM
Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University.
Waters
Andrew J
AJ
Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
Breitmeyer
Bruno G
BG
Department of Psychology, University of Houston.
Miller
Elizabeth K
EK
Department of Behavioral Science, University of Texas-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Tapia
Evelina
E
Department of Psychology, University of Houston.
Li
Yisheng
Y
0000-0001-9847-8544
Department of Biostatistics, University of Texas-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D009538:Nicotine / Q000009:adverse effects; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D011930:Reaction Time; D012858:Size Perception; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D013360:Subliminal Stimulation; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
D009538:Nicotine