title: Differences between nicotine-abstinent smokers and non-smokers in terms of visuospatial attention and inhibition before and after single-blind nicotine administration.
abstract: The cholinergic system is implicated in visuospatial attention and inhibition, however the exact role is still unclear. Two key mechanisms in visuospatial attention are bias and disengagement. Bias refers to neuronal signals that enhance the sensitivity of the sensory cortex, disengagement is the decoupling of attention. Previous studies suggest that nicotine affects disengagement and (related) inhibition. However the exact relation is still unknown. Furthermore, nicotine-abstinence in 'healthy' smokers may resemble some anomalies of visuospatial attention and inhibition as seen in Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Smokers and non-smokers (32 male students) performed in a visuospatial cueing (VSC) task, to assess bias and disengagement, and in a stop-signal task (SST) to assess inhibition. It was expected that nicotine abstinent smokers compared to non-smokers, would show poor disengagement (indicated by an enhanced validity effect) and poor inhibitory control (indicated by an enhanced stop-signal reaction time (SSRT)). It was expected that nicotine would positively affect disengagement and inhibition: hypothesis 1 stated that this effect would be larger in smokers as opposed to non-smokers, in terms of smoking-related deficient inhibitory control. Hypothesis 2 stated the exact opposite, in terms of drug-tolerance. Results indicated no baseline differences. Nicotine enhanced inhibition more in non-smokers relative to smokers. Integrating the results, nicotine-abstinent smokers do not seem to resemble ADHD patients, and do not seem to smoke in order to self-medicate a pre-existing deficit pertaining to mechanisms of visuospatial attention and inhibition. Nicotine may affect inhibition more in non-smokers relative to smokers, consistent with a drug-tolerance account.
authors: Helmholtz Research Institute, Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: H.N.A.Logemann@gmail.com.
authors: H N A
authors: HN
authors: Logemann
authors: Alan Turing Institute Almere, Louis Armstrongweg 84, 1311 RL Almere, The Netherlands.
authors: K B E
authors: KB
authors: Böcker
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: P K H
authors: PK
authors: Deschamps
authors: Helmholtz Research Institute, Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: C
authors: C
authors: Kemner
authors: Helmholtz Research Institute, Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80140, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors: J L
authors: JL
authors: Kenemans
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D012907:Smoking / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine
keywords: ADHD; acetylcholine; attention; cholinergic; inhibition; nicotine