Importance of environmental distractors in the effects of nicotine on short-term memory

This study examined the role of environmental context in mediating the effects of nicotine on short-term memory performance (i.e., working memory). Male and female smokers (n = 12, overnight tobacco abstinent) and nonsmokers (n = 11) were administered nicotine (20 ug/kg) and a placebo (0 ug/kg) by means of a measured-dose nasal spray procedure on separate days. Participants were tested on a variant of S. Sternberg's (1966) memory search task. Half of the memory task sets involved the presentation of an auditory environmental distraction. Improvements in short-term memory performance with nicotine were primarily seen in smokers and in the presence of the distracting stimuli. These results suggest that environmental conditions, such as the presence of a distracting stimulus, may play an important role in mediating the effects of nicotine.