title: Effects of nicotine and nicotine expectancy on attentional bias for emotional stimuli.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nicotine's effects on mood are thought to enhance its addictive potential. However, the mechanisms underlying the effects of nicotine on affect regulation have not been reliably demonstrated in human laboratory studies. We investigated the effects of nicotine abstinence (Experiment 1), and nicotine challenge and expectancy (Experiment 2) on attentional bias towards facial emotional stimuli differing in emotional valence.
  
  
  METHODS
  In Experiment 1, 46 nicotine-deprived smokers were randomized to either continue to abstain from smoking or to smoke immediately before testing. In Experiment 2, 96 nicotine-deprived smokers were randomized to smoke a nicotinized or denicotinized cigarette and to be told that the cigarette did or did not contain nicotine. In both experiments participants completed a visual probe task, where positively valenced (happy) and negatively valenced (sad) facial expressions were presented, together with neutral facial expressions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Experiment 1, there was evidence of an interaction between probe location and abstinence on reaction time, indicating that abstinent smokers showed an attentional bias for neutral stimuli. In Experiment 2, there was evidence of an interaction between probe location, nicotine challenge and expectation on reaction time, indicating that smokers receiving nicotine, but told that they did not receive nicotine, showed an attentional bias for emotional stimuli.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that nicotine abstinence appears to disrupt attentional bias towards emotional facial stimuli. These data provide support for nicotine's modulation of attentional bias as a central mechanism for maintaining affect regulation in cigarette smoking.
authors.affiliation: UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies and Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK; s.adams@bath.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies and School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Angela S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Attwood
authors.affiliation: UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies and School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK; MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit at the University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Marcus R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Munafò
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000187:drug effects*; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004644:Emotions / Q000187:drug effects; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009538:Nicotine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine