title: Attentional bias in snus users: an experimental study.
abstract: The use of nicotine in the form of "snus" is substantial and increasing in some geographic areas, in particular among young people. It has previously been suggested that addictions may operate through a mechanism of attentional bias, in which stimuli representative of the dependent substance increase in salience, thus increasing the addictive behavior. However, this hypothesis has not been tested for the case of snus. The current experiment used a modified Stroop task and a dot-probe task to investigate whether 40 snus users show an attentional bias towards snus-relevant stimuli, compared to 40 non-snus users. There were no significant differences between the two groups on reaction times or accuracy on either Stroop or dot-probe task, thus failing to show an attentional bias towards snus-relevant stimuli for snus users. This could imply that other mechanisms may contribute to maintenance of snus use than for other addictions. However, this is the first experimental study investigating attentional bias in snus users, and more research is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Rune Aune
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Mentzoni
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Bjørn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sætrevik
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Helge
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Molde
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wiium
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Jørn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hetland
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fagerland
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Linn Tinnesand
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Nordnes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Sunniva Straume
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Storemark
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Ingrid Nesdal
authors.initials: IN
authors.lastname: Fossum
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosocial Science, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Ståle
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pallesen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D015982:Bias; D006801:Humans; D009538:Nicotine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D057190:Stroop Test; D014030:Tobacco, Smokeless / Q000009:adverse effects*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D009538:Nicotine