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Nicotine & Tobacco Research Advance Access published online on April 20, 2009
Nicotine & Tobacco Research, doi:10.1093/ntr/ntp044
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Effects of acute nicotine on event-related potential and performance indices of auditory distraction in nonsmokers

Verner J. Knott, Kiley Bolton, Adam Heenan, Dhrasti Shah, Derek J. Fisher and Crystal Villeneuve

Verner J. Knott, Ph.D., C.Psych., Clinical Neuroelectrophysiology and Cognitive Research Laboratory, University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Kiley Bolton, B.A., School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Adam Heenan, B.A., Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Dhrasti Shah B.Sc., Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Derek J. Fisher, B.Sc., M.Sc., Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Crystal Villeneuve, B.A., Institute of Cognitive Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Corresponding Author: Verner J. Knott, Ph.D., C.Psych., University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, 1145 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1Z 7K4, Canada. Telephone: +1(613)722-6521; Fax: +1(613)798-2980; E-mail: vknott{at}rohcg.on.ca


  Abstract

Introduction: Although nicotine has been purported to enhance attentional processes, this has been evidenced mostly in tasks of sustained attention, and its effects on selective attention and attentional control under conditions of distraction are less convincing.

Methods: This study investigated the effects of nicotine on distractibility in 21 (11 males) nonsmokers with event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral performance measures extracted from an auditory discrimination task requiring a choice reaction time response to short- and long-duration tones, with and without imbedded deviants. Administered in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design, nicotine gum (6 mg) failed to counter deviant-elicited behavioral distraction characterized by longer reaction times and increased response errors.

Results: Of the deviant-elicited ERP components, nicotine did not alter the P3a-indexed attentional switching to the deviant, but in females, it tended to diminish the automatic processing of the deviant as shown by a smaller mismatch negativity component, and it attenuated attentional reorienting following deviant-elicited distraction, as reflected by a reduced reorienting negativity ERP component.

Discussion: Results are discussed in relation to attentional models of nicotine and with respect to future research directions.

Received: August 5, 2008; Accepted: December 14, 2009
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