Abstract
Rationale
Smokers report pleasant reactions to viewing cigarettes, suggesting that smoking cues may be appetitive in nature. Two studies have investigated this hypothesis through physiological assessment. The first study found that smoking cues were physiologically appetitive in nature, with dampened startle response to smoking pictures in comparison to neutral pictures. The second found that smoking pictures did not modulate the startle response, suggesting such cues may not be physiologically appetitive.
Objective
The goal of the present study was to further investigate how participants’ motivation to quit smoking might modulate responses to smoking cues.
Materials and methods
Twenty-two nicotine-dependent smokers viewed standardized pleasant, unpleasant, neutral, and smoking pictures. Eleven of the subjects reported no intent to quit (precontemplators) and 11 reported planning to quit within the next 6 months (contemplators). Acoustic startle probes were randomly administered while subjects viewed the pictures, and eyeblink startle magnitude was measured with electromyography (EMG).
Results
As a whole, participants exhibited dampened startle responses during smoking pictures, relative to unpleasant pictures. Precontemplators showed robust startle inhibition to smoking pictures, in comparison to both neutral and unpleasant pictures. Contemplators, however, showed blunted unpleasant picture augmentation and a lack of startle inhibition for pleasant pictures.
Conclusion
These findings are consistent with the idea that smoking pictures are appetitive in nature. Furthermore, they suggest that smokers at a later stage of change may exhibit a lesser response.
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Acknowledgement
This work was financially supported by the Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas. The authors would like to thank Carrie L. Randall, Ph.D., William R. Lovallo, Ph.D., and Alice Young, Ph.D. for their continued guidance and for reviewing previous drafts of this manuscript. Appreciation is also extended to Edwin Chendra for his assistance.
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Dempsey, J.P., Cohen, L.M., Hobson, V.L. et al. Appetitive nature of drug cues re-confirmed with physiological measures and the potential role of stage of change. Psychopharmacology 194, 253–260 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-007-0839-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-007-0839-3