Abstract
Recent research suggesting that nicotine cues are appetitive in nature promotes the affective modulation of the startle reflex (AMSR) paradigm as a potentially valuable psychophysiological tool for elucidating mechanisms involved in nicotine addiction. Despite numerous studies indicating stress as a key factor in nicotine dependence, specific behavioral mechanisms linking stress and smoking have yet to be explicated. The current study aimed to determine the effects of stress, a negative affective state intimately linked with nicotine use, on the psychophysiological responding of nicotine dependent individuals during smoking cues. Twenty-nine nicotine dependent individuals were randomly assigned to the trier social stress test or control condition directly prior to administration of the AMSR paradigm, which examined their physiological responses to appetitive, neutral, aversive, and nicotine cue images. Both groups evinced significantly decreased startle magnitudes in response to nicotine cues as compared to aversive images. However, exposure to stress did not significantly modulate the startle reflex while viewing nicotine cues. Stress induction does not appear to modulate the AMSR paradigm when evaluating responses to nicotine images. These findings suggest that AMSR is robust to effects of acute stress induction in nicotine dependent individuals which may increase its viability as a clinical tool for assessing success in smoking cessation interventions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
al’Absi, M., Wittmers, L. E., Erickson, J., Hatsukami, D., & Crouse, B. (2003). Attenuated adrenocortical and blood pressure responses to psychological stress in ad libitum and abstinent smokers. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 74(2), 401–410.
Baron, J. A., Comi, R. J., Cryns, V., Brinck-Johnsen, T., & Mercer, N. G. (1995). The effect of cigarette smoking on adrenal cortical hormones. [Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S.]. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 272(1), 151–155.
Bernat, E., Patrick, C. J., Benning, S. D., & Tellegen, A. (2006). Effects of picture content and intensity on affective physiological response. Psychophysiology, 43(1), 93–103. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2006.00380.x.
Blumenthal, T. D. (1998). Quantifying human startle response magnitude: Effects of filter passband and integrator time constant on eyeblink EMG response peak and area. Journal of Psychophysiology, 12(2), 159–171.
Blumenthal, T. D., Cuthbert, B. N., Filion, D. L., Hackley, S., Lipp, O. V., & van Boxtel, A. (2005). Committee report: Guidelines for human startle eyeblink electromyographic studies. [Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S. Review]. Psychophysiology, 42(1), 1–15. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2005.00271.x.
Bradley, M. M., Codispoti, M., Cuthbert, B. N., & Lang, P. J. (2001). Emotion and motivation I: defensive and appetitive reactions in picture processing. [Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S.]. Emotion, 1(3), 276–298.
Bradley, M., Cuthbert, B., & Lang, P. (1999). Affect and the startle reflex. Cambridge: Cambridge Universtiy Press.
Bradley, M. M., & Lang, P. J. (1994). Measuring emotion: The self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. [Comparative Study Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S.]. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 25(1), 49–59.
Bradley, M. M., Lang, P. J., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1993). Emotion, novelty, and the startle reflex: Habituation in humans. [Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S.]. Behavioral Neuroscience, 107(6), 970–980.
Buchanan, T. W., & Tranel, D. (2008). Stress and emotional memory retrieval: Effects of sex and cortisol response. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 89(2), 134–141. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2007.07.003.
Buczek, Y., Le, A. D., Wang, A., Stewart, J., & Shaham, Y. (1999). Stress reinstates nicotine seeking but not sucrose solution seeking in rats. [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S.]. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 144(2), 183–188.
Cohen, S. I. (1988). Voodoo death, the stress response, and AIDS. Advances in Biochemical Psychopharmacology, 44, 95–109.
Cohen, J. (1998). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cohen, S., Kamarck, T., & Mermelstein, R. (1983). A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 24(4), 385–396.
Cohen, S., & Lichtenstein, E. (1990). Perceived stress, quitting smoking, and smoking relapse. [Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S.]. Health Psychology, 9(4), 466–478.
Dempsey, J. P., Cohen, L. M., Hobson, V. L., & Randall, P. K. (2007). Appetitive nature of drug cues re-confirmed with physiological measures and the potential role of stage of change. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 194(2), 253–260. doi:10.1007/s00213-007-0839-3.
Geier, A., Mucha, R. F., & Pauli, P. (2000). Appetitive nature of drug cues confirmed with physiological measures in a model using pictures of smoking. [Clinical Trial Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t]. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 150(3), 283–291.
Gorber, S. C., Schofield-Hurwitz, S., Hardt, J., Levasseur, G., & Tremblay, M. (2009). The accuracy of self-reported smoking: A systematic review of the relationship between self-reported and cotinine-assessed smoking status. [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Review]. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 11(1), 12–24. doi:10.1093/ntr/ntn010.
Heatherton, T. F., Kozlowski, L. T., Frecker, R. C., & Fagerstrom, K. O. (1991). The Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence: A revision of the Fagerstrom tolerance questionnaire. British Journal of Addiction, 86(9), 1119–1127.
Keppel, G. (1991). Correction for cumulative type 1 error. In G. Keppel (Ed.), Design and analysis: A researcher’s handbook (pp. 163–186). New York: Prentice-Hall.
Kirschbaum, C., Pirke, K. M., & Hellhammer, D. H. (1993a). The ‘Trier Social Stress Test’—a tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. Neuropsychobiology, 28(1–2), 76–81.
Kirschbaum, C., Strasburger, C. J., & Langkrar, J. (1993b). Attenuated cortisol response to psychological stress but not to CRH or ergometry in young habitual smokers. [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t]. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 44(3), 527–531.
Koob, G. F. (2009). Brain stress systems in the amygdala and addiction. [Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t Review]. Brain Research, 1293, 61–75. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2009.03.038.
Lang, P. J., Bradley, M. M., & Cuthbert, B. N. (1998). Emotion, motivation, and anxiety: Brain mechanisms and psychophysiology. Biological Psychiatry, 44(12), 1248–1263.
Leone, A. (2005). Biochemical markers of cardiovascular damage from tobacco smoke. Current Pharmaceutical Design, 11(17), 2199–2208.
Orain-Pelissolo, S., Grillon, C., Perez-Diaz, F., & Jouvent, R. (2004). Lack of startle modulation by smoking cues in smokers. [Comparative Study Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t]. Psychopharmacology (Berl), 173(1–2), 160–166. doi:10.1007/s00213-003-1715-4.
Pomerleau, C. S., Carton, S. M., Lutzke, M. L., Flessland, K. A., & Pomerleau, O. F. (1994). Reliability of the Fagerstrom tolerance questionnaire and the Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence. Addictive Behaviors, 19(1), 33–39.
Pomerleau, O. F., & Pomerleau, C. S. (1991). Research on stress and smoking: Progress and problems. [Research Support, U.S. Gov’t, P.H.S. Review]. British Journal of Addiction, 86(5), 599–603.
Schuler, M. S., Lechner, W. V., Carter, R. E., & Malcolm, R. (2009). Temporal and gender trends in concordance of urine drug screens and self-reported use in cocaine treatment studies. Journal of addiction medicine, 3(4), 211–217. doi:10.1097/ADM.0b013e3181a0f5dc.
Sinha, R. (2001). How does stress increase risk of drug abuse and relapse? Psychopharmacology (Berl), 158(4), 343–359. doi:10.1007/s002130100917.
Society for research on nicotine and tobacco subcommittee on biochemical verification (SRNT). (2002). Biochemical verification of tobacco use and cessation. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 4, 149–159.
Tersman, Z., Collins, A., & Eneroth, P. (1991). Cardiovascular responses to psychological and physiological stressors during the menstrual cycle. [Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t]. Psychosomatic Medicine, 53(2), 185–197.
Tsigos, C., & Chrousos, G. P. (2002). Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, neuroendocrine factors and stress. [Review]. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 53(4), 865–871.
van Eck, M. M., & Nicolson, N. A. (1994). Perceived stress and salivary cortisol in daily life. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 16(3), 221–227.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lechner, W.V., Grant, D.M., Meier, E. et al. The Influence of Stress on the Affective Modulation of the Startle Response to Nicotine Cues. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 39, 279–285 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-014-9266-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-014-9266-5