1,721,133 research outputs found
Cue reactivity in smokers: the effects of perceived cigarette availability and gender
No full textWe examined the effects of perceived cigarette availability and gender on smoking cue reactivity. Smokers were exposed to smoking cues (smoking paraphernalia) and control cues whilst their subjective and physiological responses were measured. Perceived cigarette availability was manipulated on a between-subjects basis before cue exposure. Relative to control cues, smoking cues evoked increases in the level of skin conductance in all participants. Cigarette craving was also increased in the presence of smoking cues, but only in female participants. Perceived cigarette availability had no effect on these responses. Participants also showed salivary reactivity to smoking cues, with males showing a decrease in salivation, and females showing an increase, but only when cigarettes were perceived as unavailable. These results suggest that perceived cigarette availability may not influence craving and skin conductance reactivity to smoking cues in minimally dependent smokers who are not nicotine deprived. In addition, the present data suggest that there are important gender differences in craving reactivity to smoking cues
Attentional and approach biases for smoking cues in smokers: an investigation of competing theoretical views of addiction
No full textRationale Different theories of addiction make conflicting predictions about whether attentional and approach biases for smoking-related cues are enhanced, or reduced, as a function of the level of nicotine dependence.
Objective These theoretical views were evaluated by examining cognitive biases in smokers.
Methods We monitored the eye movements of 41 smokers (predominantly young adults, who smoked from one to 40 cigarettes per day) as they completed a visual probe task in which smoking-related and matched control pictures were presented. Participants also completed a stimulus-response compatibility task, which measured the tendency to approach smoking-related cues, and a rating task.
Results Smokers with lower levels of nicotine dependence showed greater maintained attention and faster approach responses to smoking-related cues. Longer gaze times for smoking cues were associated not only with lower levels of nicotine dependence, but also with higher levels of craving.
Conclusions Overall, the results seem consistent with an integrated incentive-habit model of addiction
Alcohol increases cognitive biases for smoking cues in smokers
No full textRationale: Alcohol increases the motivation to smoke, possibly because it increases the incentive motivational properties of smoking cues.Objectives: We examined whether alcohol would increase attentional, approach, and evaluative biases for smoking-related cues in a sample of daily cigarette smokers.Methods: The study used a visual probe task with eye movement recording to investigate biases in visual orienting to smoking-related cues. A stimulus–response compatibility task was used to assess approach tendencies for smoking-related cues, and an explicit rating task was used to assess the perceived valence of smoking-related cues. Participants completed the tasks in two sessions, once after consumption of 0.4 g/kg alcohol and once after consumption of a non-alcoholic drink.Results: Alcohol increased the maintenance of attention on smoking cues (evident from gaze duration and a reaction time index of attentional bias), the perceived pleasantness of smoking cues, and cigarette craving, relative to the non-alcoholic drink. However, alcohol had no effect on the initial shifting of gaze to smoking cues or on the tendency to approach smoking cues.Conclusions: These results suggest that, in smokers, ingestion of a moderate dose of alcohol increases the propensity for smoking-related cues to hold attention and makes those cues seem more attractive, which is consistent with alcohol increasing the 'incentive salience' of smoking cues
Cognitive bias and drug craving in recreational cannabis users
No full textRecent theories propose that repeated drug use is associated with attentional and evaluative biases for drug-related stimuli, and that these cognitive biases are related to individual differences in subjective craving. This study investigated cognitive biases for cannabis-related cues in recreational cannabis users. Seventeen regular cannabis users and 16 non-users completed a visual probe task which assessed attentional biases for cannabis-related words, and an implicit association test (IAT) which assessed implicit positive or negative associations for cannabis-related words. Results from the IAT indicated more negative associations for cannabis-related words in non-users compared to users. Among cannabis users, those with high levels of cannabis craving had a significant attentional bias for cannabis-related words on the visual probe task, but those with low levels of craving did not. Results highlight the role of craving in attentional biases for cannabis-related stimuli
Eye movements to smoking-related cues: effects of nicotine deprivation
No full textRationale: According to recent theories of addiction, nicotine deprivation may influence biases in the orienting and maintenance of attention on smoking-related cues.Objectives: We examined the effect of nicotine deprivation on different aspects of attentional biases for smoking-related cues.Methods: Smokers eye movements to smoking-related and control pictures were assessed during a visual probe task under deprived and non-deprived conditions.Results: When deprived, smokers maintained their gaze for longer on smoking-related than control cues, relative to when non-deprived. Deprivation also increased craving and pleasantness ratings of smoking cues. Across both deprived and non-deprived conditions, smokers were more likely to shift their gaze towards smoking cues and were faster to respond to probes replacing smoking cues, relative to non-smoking cues, but these attentional bias measures were not significantly affected by the deprivation manipulation.Conclusions: Results suggest a selective effect of deprivation on the maintenance of attention on smoking-related cues
The validity of different measures of automatic alcohol action tendencies
No full textPrevious studies have demonstrated that automatic alcohol action tendencies are related to alcohol consumption and hazardous drinking. These action tendencies are measured with reaction time tasks in which the latency to make an approach response to alcohol pictures is compared with the latency to make an avoidance response. In the literature, 4 different tasks have been used, and these tasks differ on whether alcohol is a relevant (R) or irrelevant (IR) feature for categorization and on whether participants must make a symbolic approach response (stimulus-response compatibility [SRC] tasks) or an overt behavioral response (approach avoidance tasks [AAT]) to the pictures. Previous studies have shown positive correlations between measures of action tendencies and hazardous drinking and weekly alcohol consumption. However, results have been inconsistent and the different measures have not been directly compared with each other. Therefore, it is unclear which task is the best predictor of hazardous drinking and alcohol consumption. In the present study, 80 participants completed all 4 measures of action tendencies (i.e., R-SRC, IR-SRC, R-AAT, and IR-AAT) and measures of alcohol consumption and hazardous drinking. Stepwise regressions showed that the R-SRC and R-AAT were the only significant predictors of hazardous drinking, whereas the R-AAT was the only reliable predictor of alcohol consumption. Our results confirm that drinking behavior is positively correlated with automatic alcohol approach tendencies, but only if alcohol-relatedness is the relevant feature for categorization. Theoretical implications and methodological issues are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Recor
Attentional bias in drug dependence: vigilance for cigarette-related cues in smokers
No full textTwo experiments investigated attentional biases for smoking-related cues in smokers and nonsmokers, using the visual probe task. In Experiment 1, when pictures were displayed for 500 ms, smokers who had made repeated quit attempts showed an attentional bias for smoking-related scenes. Experiment 2 replicated this finding and revealed that when pictures were presented for 2,000 ms, the smoker group as a whole showed vigilance for smoking-related cues, but nonsmokers did not. The findings from the 500-ms exposure condition suggest that initial orienting of attention to smoking cues was associated with repeated unsuccessful attempts at abstinence in smokers. Results are discussed with reference to incentive-sensitization theories of addiction and to component processes of selective attention, such as initial orienting versus maintenance
Selective processing of cannabis cues in regular cannabis users.
No full textRecent studies indicate that the regular use of certain drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol, is associated with biases in the processing of drug-related cues, as those cues grab attention, elicit approach and are perceived as pleasant. This study investigated whether regular cannabis users exhibit comparable cognitive biases for cannabis-related pictorial cues. Twenty-three regular cannabis users and 23 non-user controls completed a series of tasks including a visual probe task with concurrent eye movement monitoring (to measure attentional bias), a stimulus-response compatibility task (to measure implicit approach bias) and a valence rating task (to measure the perceived pleasantness of cannabis cues). Results indicated that, relative to non-users, regular cannabis users had biases to maintain their gaze on cannabis cues, to make faster approach responses towards cannabis cues, and to rate cannabis cues as pleasant. Results are generally consistent with previous findings from tobacco smokers and heavy drinkers, and the implications for incentive-motivational theories of addiction are discussed
Attentional biases for alcohol cues in heavy and light drinkers: The roles of initial orienting and maintained attention
No full textRationale
There has been considerable theoretical interest in attentional biases for drug-related cues. However, there is little research on the component processes of such attentional biases.Objectives
We examined initial orienting to, and the maintenance of attention on, alcohol-related cues in heavy and light social drinkers.Methods
The present study used a visual probe task to investigate biases in visual orienting to alcohol-related cues. We varied the presentation duration of alcohol-related pictures (200, 500 or 2000 ms) to investigate whether attentional biases operated in initial orienting or the maintenance of attention.Results
In comparison with light social drinkers, heavy social drinkers had an attentional bias for alcohol pictures which were presented at the longer exposure durations (500 and 2000 ms), but not at the shorter duration of 200 ms. Subjective alcohol craving was correlated with the attentional bias index for alcohol pictures presented for 2000 ms.Conclusions
These results suggest that biases in visual orienting to alcohol-related cues in heavy social drinkers operate mainly in the processes involved in the maintenance of attention
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