Effects of information processing load in abstinent and nonabstinent smokers' psychomotor task performance

Recent evidence has indicated that nicotine, the active agent in tobacco, may affect mental abilities of smokers. To better understand the effects of nicotine on central processing, we used a basic chronometric approach to studying information processing. This chronometric approach allowed for the independent examination of nicotine's effects on two theoretically nonoverlapping information-processing stages, stimulus identification and response programming. Two stimulus intensity and four distance traversed conditions were used to affect the stimulus identification and response programming stages, respectively. The 11 subjects completed two experimental sessions (nicotinized and denicotinized), which were conducted 1 week apart. Each experimental session comprised two tests. The first test consisted of abstinent baseline measures, and the second test was administered after subjects smoked an investigator-supplied nicotinized or denicotinized cigarette. Data analysis revealed that the higher intensity stimulus elicited faster reaction times, as did the shorter movement distances, thus confirming successful manipulation of both the stimulus identification and response programming stages of the information-processing model. Furthermore, the significant improvement in reaction-time performance over baseline abstinent levels was consistent despite the manipulations made within the stimulus identification stage of processing, demonstrating that no interaction existed between stimulus intensity and the administration of nicotine. Interestingly, these data provide initial evidence that although nicotine may not affect the programming of very simple movements, it has a more pronounced effect on more complex movements. Although distance traversed had a reliable effect on movement time, nicotine had no observable effect.