CAFFEINE AND SMOKING - SUBJECTIVE, PERFORMANCE, AND PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS

The effects of caffeine and smoking on cognitive performance, subjecti ve variables, heart rate, and EEG were assessed in two sessions. In on e session, subjects received caffeine (2.5 mg/kg bodyweight), while in the other they received placebo. In both sessions they smoked a cigar ette (8 cued puffs) having a nicotine yield of 1.2 mg. Caffeine produc ed an increase in self-reported muscular tension and tended to increas e anxiety and delta magnitude. Smoking facilitated performance of a pa per-and-pencil math task and increased heart rate. Smoking also appear ed to produce cortical activation as indexed by decreased right fronta l delta, decreased right centro-parietal theta, globally increased alp ha, and increased centro-occipital/decreased posterior-temporal beta1. Smoking also increased central/decreased posterior-temporal beta2. Sm oking and caffeine did not interact for any measure, suggesting that t he epidemiological link between smoking and coffee drinking may have a non-pharmacological basis.