Smoking as a cue for subjective and behavioral responses to a stressor

Smoking in conjunction with a repeated stressor may come to serve as a cue, or discriminative stimulus, for responses to the stressor. This study examined the effects of omitting a previously predictable smoking cue on subjective and behavioral responses to a stressor. Male smokers were instructed to smoke briefly on command immediately prior to ("smoke-pre", n = 10) or several minutes after ("smoke-post", n = 10) each of four acquisition trials of a mental arithmetic task. During two subsequent trials, both groups first engaged in the task without the smoking cue (Test Trial 1), a novel experience for smoke-pre, and then engaged in the task preceded by the smoking cue (Test Trial 2), a novel experience for smoke-post. Omission of the smoking cue during Test Trial 1 produced significantly poorer task performance and greater subjective stress in smoke-pre. Although not significant, insertion of the smoking cue during Test Trial 2 tended to produce poorer performance in smoke-post. Thus, a consistent pattern of smoking in association with a repeated stressor may subsequently lead to impaired responding to the stressor if smoking is omitted.