Using mobile eye-tracking to assess attention to smoking cues in a naturalized environment

Attentional bias to drug cues is thought to contribute to maintenance of drug-use behavior among chronic drug users. Studies assessing this bias traditionally have assessed drug cues that are explicitly presented in a laboratory setting. This study tested the use of a mobile eye-tracking procedure to assess visual attention to smoking cues by smokers and non-smokers in a more naturalized environment.

A mobile eye-tracker was used to assess the number and duration of fixations made to smoking cues located in an office space environment by smokers and non-smokers while completing a sham experimental task. Smokers completed two sessions, once after 12h of abstinence and once after smoking.

Results indicated that smokers made significantly more fixations to the smoking cues than non-smokers, regardless of smoking condition though the mean amount of time spent fixating on the cues did not differ significantly. Smokers did not differ in the number of fixations or mean fixation duration across the two smoking conditions, suggesting in this sample that a 12-h period of abstinence did not make the smoking cues more salient in this context.

This study demonstrates the successful use of mobile eye-tracking to assess attentional biases to environmental drug cues. Results suggest that smoking cues in the environment are potentially more attention grabbing for smokers compared to non-smokers but these cues do not necessarily hold visual attention of smokers longer than that of non-smokers.