Attentional bias to smoking and other motivationally relevant cues is affected by nicotine exposure and dose expectancy

Abstract

We investigated the effects of acute nicotine dose and expected dose on attentional bias (AB) to smoking and affective cues in overnight nicotine-deprived smokers (n=51; 24 women) using a balanced placebo design, which counterbalanced given nicotine dose (Given-NIC vs. Given-DENIC) with instructed nicotine dose expectancy (Told-NIC vs. Told-DENIC). Before and after smoking a study cigarette, smokers completed a vigilance task where they pressed buttons to every third consecutive even or odd digit, while ignoring intermittent smoking, pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral picture distracters. We examined the early posterior negativity (EPN) and late positive potential (LPP) components of the event-related potentials (ERPs) to the distracters, reaction time (RT) to the target digits, and ratings of the study cigarettes. The EPN was sensitive to both given and instructed nicotine dose, while the instructed dose moderated the impact of given dose for the LPP. The RT metrics were sensitive to given but not to instructed dose. The effects of given dose on ratings following cigarette smoking (e.g. enjoyment) were moderated by the instructed dose. The ERP findings suggest that the anticipated effects of nicotine improve attention much like receiving actual nicotine.