Tsegaye A, Guo C, Cserjési R, Kenemans L, Stoet G, Kökönyei G, Logemann A. Inhibitory Performance in Smokers Relative to Nonsmokers When Exposed to Neutral, Smoking- and Money-Related Pictures.
Behav Sci (Basel) 2021;
11:bs11100128. [PMID:
34677220 PMCID:
PMC8533572 DOI:
10.3390/bs11100128]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2021] [Revised: 08/31/2021] [Accepted: 09/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Smoking is associated with significant negative health consequences. It has been suggested that deficient inhibitory control may be implicated in (nicotine) addiction, but its exact role has not yet been elucidated. In the current study, our aim was to investigate the role of inhibitory control in relation to nicotine addiction in contexts that differ in terms of reward.
METHODS
Participants filled out questionnaires and performed a go/no-go task with three conditions. In one condition, the stimuli were neutral color squares, and in the reward conditions, these were smoking-related pictures and money-related pictures, respectively. In total, 43 non-abstinent individuals that smoke and 35 individuals that do not smoke were included in the sample.
RESULTS
The main results showed that individuals that smoke, relative to individuals that do not smoke, had reduced inhibitory control in both reward contexts, relative to a neutral context. The reductions in inhibitory control were mirrored by speeded responses.
CONCLUSIONS
Individuals that smoke seem to present with reduced inhibitory control, which is most pronounced in contexts of reward. Consistent with incentive sensitization theory, the reduced inhibitory control may be (at least partly) due to the heightened approach bias to reward-related stimuli as indicated by the speeded responses.
Collapse