Tobacco smoking and memory scanning: behavioral and event-related potential effects

The behavioral and electrophysiological effects of tobacco smoking in a memory-scanning task were investigated in two groups of regular cigarette smokers. After overnight abstinence, subjects performed memory scanning with both small and large memory sets. Subjects in the Smoking group (n = 12) then smoked two cigarettes of their preferred brand. Subjects in the Control group (n = 12) also received a rest break, but did not smoke. Both groups then performed the same tasks again after the break. Behavioral performance was segregated into response time (RT)--the time required to make the memory set decision--and movement time (MT)--the time required to execute the response. Increases in RT and MT were observed after Smoking subjects smoked cigarettes, but similar increases were observed in the Control group. Analysis of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) revealed that P300 amplitude decreased somewhat after the break, but that this decrease did not differ between the Smoking and Control groups. The results suggest that tobacco smoking's effects on performance and electrophysiological variables in memory comparison tasks are slight relative to individual differences and time-on-task effects.