Publication year: 2011
Source: Addictive Behaviors, In Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available online 4 August 2011
Jeff, Boissoneault , Rebecca, Gilbertson , Robert, Prather , Sara Jo, Nixon
Background: Current literature suggests that acute nicotine administration provides a compensatory mechanism by which alcoholics might alleviate attentional deficits. In contrast, chronic smoking is increasingly recognized as negatively affecting neurobehavioral integrity. These opposing effects have not been simultaneously examined. Thus, we sought to a) extend previous work by exploring the effects of acute nicotine effects on vigilance components of attention and replicate previous findings suggesting that treatment-seeking alcoholics experience benefit to a greater extent than do other groups; and b) to examine the impact of chronic smoking on these tasks and across subgroups. Methods: Substance abusing participants (N=86) were recruited and subgrouped on…
Highlights: ► This was a placebo controlled study of regular smokers. ► Acute nicotine effects on cognition were studied. ► Performance was measured on attention/working memory tasks. ► Nicotine improved task performance in non-stimulant dependent alcoholics. ► Intensity of chronic smoking predicted poorer performance in alcoholics.