Effects of transdermal nicotine and concurrent smoking on cognitive performance in tobacco-abstinent smokers

Smokers experience cognitive decrements during tobacco abstinence and boosts in performance on resumption of smoking. Few studies have examined whether smoking cessation treatments such as transdermal nicotine (TN) ameliorate these decrements or attenuate the cognitive effects of smoking. Identifying the effects of nicotine on these tobacco-related changes in performance could guide the development of more efficacious treatments. The purpose of this double-blind, randomized, laboratory study was to use process-specific cognitive tasks to examine the effects of TN and tobacco smoking on attention and working memory in overnight-abstinent smokers (N = 124; 54 women). Each participant completed 4 sessions lasting 6.5 hr corresponding to 0-, 7-, 14-, or 21-mg TN doses, and smoked a single cigarette 4 hr after TN administration. Outcome measures were administered before and after smoking and included tasks measuring attention (alerting, orienting, and executive function), working memory (verbal and spatial), and psychomotor function. Analysis of variance (p < .05) revealed that TN improved verbal and spatial working memory performance, as well as psychomotor function. Smoking, independent of TN dose, improved alerting, verbal working memory, and psychomotor function. Lastly, TN partially attenuated the effects of smoking on some working memory outcomes. These findings lend evidence to the idea that TN ameliorates some abstinence-related cognitive decrements and suggest that TN does not completely attenuate the cognitive effects of a concurrently smoked cigarette. Consequently, TN's efficacy as a smoking cessation treatment might be improved if these limitations are better addressed by either modifying or supplementing existing treatments.