Attentional Bias Towards Cigarette Cues In Smokers (2010)

Undergraduates: Katherine Hamaoui, Dr. Vicki Chanon

Faculty Advisor: Charlotte Boettiger
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Attentional bias toward drug-related cues in substance dependent individuals is found across a wide variety of substance use disorders, including smoking. This bias has been found to correlate with level of craving and likelihood of relapse to substance use in abstinent individuals. This experiment was designed to improve our understanding of how smokers’ attention is abnormally allocated to smoking-related images. Participants were instructed to respond as quickly as they could to each target (a numeral within a rapid series of 15 letters). Each letter was superimposed on a neutral image, while the target number appeared on either a smoking-related image or a neutral image (50:50 ratio). We predicted that smokers (S) would respond to targets more quickly when they appeared superimposed on a smoking-related image versus a neutral image, due to facilitation in target processing and an overall increased vigilance, and that non-smokers (N) would not show this effect. The results found that both S and N alike responded faster to the numeral on a smoking image, potentially indicating a general attentional bias towards cues in a category. For S, significant correlation between bias and the number of cigarettes/day suggests a greater bias for those who smoke more frequently. The knowledge gained may be helpful in testing attentional effects, new smoking cessation treatments, and may stimulate future research regarding predictors of relapse risk for addictive behaviors.