Smoking patterns during cognitive performance

Studies on the effects of smoking and performance in learning and memory tasks have followed one of two strategies: (a) either subjects are required to smoke at fixed intervals and/or rates, or (b) subjects are permitted to smoke freely in the absence of any monitoring or observation of smoking acts. The present studies allowed free smoking within a structured context, while exposed to intelligence test items for 30 seconds. Subjects were observed to vary their smoking acts (puffing, tapping) as a function of the temporal characteristics of the task. Subjects followed the same pattern across two independent studies. Such findings have clear implications for smoking studies since they indicate that how and why subjects smoke may (a) vary with context, and (b) affect different task inputs.