Selective attention to smoking cues in former smokers.

Repeated drug use modifies the emotional and cognitive processing of drug-associated cues. These changes are supposed to persist even after prolonged abstinence. Several studies demonstrated that smoking cues selectively attract the attention of smokers, but empirical evidence for such an attentional bias among successful quitters is inconclusive. Here, we investigated whether attentional biases persist after smoking cessation. Thirty-eight former smokers, 34 current smokers, and 29 non-smokers participated in a single experimental session. We used three measures of attentional bias for smoking stimuli: A visual probe task with short (500ms) and long (2000ms) picture stimulus durations, and a modified Stroop task with smoking-related and neutral words. Former smokers and current smokers, as compared to non-smokers, showed an attentional bias in visual orienting to smoking pictures in the 500ms condition of the visual probe task. The Stroop interference index of smoking words was negatively related to nicotine dependence in current smokers. Former smokers and mildly dependent smokers, as compared to non-smokers, showed increased interference by smoking words in the Stroop task. Neither current nor former smokers showed an attentional bias in maintained attention (2000ms visual probe task). In conclusion, even after prolonged abstinence smoking cues retain incentive salience in former smokers, who differed from non-smokers on two attentional bias indices. Attentional biases in former smokers operate mainly in early involuntary rather than in controlled processing, and may represent a vulnerability factor for relapse. Therefore, smoking cessation programs should strengthen self-control abilities to prevent relapses.

Startle cue-reactivity differentiates between light and heavy smokers.

AIMS: It was assumed that the startle amplitude in smokers is reduced while viewing pictures of smoking, suggesting that smoking cues are appetitive. The goal of the present study was to investigate (i) whether smoking scenes induce appetitive cue effects in smokers, and (ii) whether smoking intensity is related to cue-reactivity. DESIGN: Smokers and non-smokers participated in a single session. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 62 individuals participated: 36 smokers and 26 non-smokers. MEASUREMENTS: Participants took part in an acoustic affective startle experiment using standardized pleasant, neutral and unpleasant scenes from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS), as well as pictures of smoking. The effect of smoking cues was assessed by comparing neutral and smoking scenes (termed cue-related startle suppression, CSS). FINDINGS: While there was no overall difference between smokers and non-smokers regarding the CSS, light smokers showed significantly increased cue-reactivity towards smoking-related cues, as compared with heavy smokers and non-smokers. In addition, light smokers also displayed stronger appetitive responses towards positive stimuli. CONCLUSIONS: These data support recent theories which discriminate between habit-based and incentive-based drug abuse. This distinction may have consequences for the assessment and treatment of drug-addicted subjects. Furthermore, incentive-based light smoking seems to have general effects on the reward system.