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Anhedonia predicts altered processing of happy faces in abstinent cigarette smokers

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Abstract

Rationale

Anhedonia—diminished capacity to experience pleasure—is associated with tobacco dependence and smoking cessation failure. However, the mechanisms linking anhedonia and smoking are unclear.

Objectives

This study examined whether trait anhedonia predicted cognitive processing of emotional faces during experimentally manipulated acute tobacco deprivation in smokers. Because nicotine may offset reward processing deficits in anhedonia and these deficits may become expressed during abstinence, we hypothesized that anhedonia would predict diminished cognitive processing of happy (versus neutral) facial expressions in nicotine deprived, but not nondeprived states.

Methods

Smokers not attempting to quit (n = 75, 10+ cig/day) completed anhedonia questionnaires in a baseline session. Participants then attended two counterbalanced experimental sessions: one following 18-h of tobacco abstinence and one after unrestricted smoking. At both sessions, they completed a computer-based measure of attentional interference induced by emotional facial expressions.

Results

The extent to which anhedonia predicted attentional interference induced by happy faces differed as a function of deprivation status (ps ≤ .04, η 2p s > .06). Anhedonia predicted lower interference by happy (versus neutral) faces in the deprived condition (r = −.28, p = .02), but not in the nondeprived condition (r = .08, p = .51). Analyses of a secondary measure of anhedonia found marginally significant effects in the same direction.

Conclusions

These findings indicate that disrupted processing of positively valenced social cues occurs upon abstinence in high-anhedonia individuals. This alteration may motivate reinstatement of smoking in order to remediate these deficits. More broadly, these results suggest that the neuropharmacological pathways affected by nicotine may underlie disrupted emotional processing in anhedonia—a prominent feature in several psychiatric disorders.

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Notes

  1. It is possible that very early withdrawal symptoms may have been emerging at the time of testing in the nondeprived condition (30–40 min postcigarette), which could have impacted the results and reduced the power to detect anhedonia by deprivation interactions. However, it is unlikely that early withdrawal had a substantial effect on the current findings, given that interactions between anhedonia and deprivation were found. Furthermore, previous research suggests that withdrawal-related changes in affective withdrawal symptoms do not emerge until at least 60 min of abstinence (Hendricks et al. 2006).

  2. The number of outliers in this study may be considered high. Therefore, we reran all analyses without excluding outliers. Results of analyses that did not remove outliers were similar to the primary analyses. SHAPS × deprivation interaction effect for predicting happy face interference scores, F = 3.92, p = .051, η 2p  = .05 (deprived: r = −.22, p = .04; nondeprived: r = −.02, p = .85); TPI-R × deprivation interaction effect for predicting happy face interference scores, F = 4.15, p = .045, η 2p  = .05 (deprived: r = −.24, p = .03; nondeprived: r = .03, p = .81).Thus, primary results reported utilize data with outliers removed.

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Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse grants R01-DA026831 and K08-DA025041.

Conflicts of interest

The authors report no disclosures or conflicts of interests related to this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, 2250 Alcazar Street, CSC 240, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA

    Adam M. Leventhal, Steve Sussman & Ping Sun

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Adam M. Leventhal, Steve Sussman & John R. Monterosso

  3. School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Marcus Munafò

  4. Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Jennifer W. Tidey & Christopher W. Kahler

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  1. Adam M. Leventhal
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  2. Marcus Munafò
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Correspondence to Adam M. Leventhal.

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Leventhal, A.M., Munafò, M., Tidey, J.W. et al. Anhedonia predicts altered processing of happy faces in abstinent cigarette smokers. Psychopharmacology 222, 343–351 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-012-2649-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-012-2649-5

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