EFFECTS OF SMOKING ON COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE AND PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS AS A FUNCTION OF SMOKING STATE

Twenty female regular smokers were tested in four sessions while perfo rming a 20-min rapid information processing task (RIP) twice. Accordin g to a 2 x 2 crossover design they were required to abstain from smoki ng or not on the mornings before the session and allowed or not allowe d to smoke between the two RIP trials. Pre-session abstinence, as comp ared with non-abstinence, showed the expected withdrawal symptoms in t erms of decreased cognitive performance, electrocortical and cardiovas cular arousal, increased pre-session anxiety, craving to smoke and rat ings of cigarette strength, nausea and dizziness after smoking a cigar ette during the session. Smoking during the session, as compared with non-smoking, on the other hand, showed some beneficial effects in term s of increased cognitive performance, electrocortical and cardiovascul ar arousal. Whereas these effects were antagonistic for most of the as sessed parameters, there were also some significant interactions. The increases in processing rate, heart rate and stroke volume and the dec reases in finger pulse amplitude, left-ventricular ejection time and s tate anxiety due to smoking were greater after preceding abstinence th an non-abstinence. This reflects the great impact of the acute toleran ce to nicotine. Finally, no positive effects of smoking on the RIP-tas k-induced physiological stress reactions were found, suggesting that s moking as a coping aid is of only restricted value.