Dg. Gilbert et al., DEPRESSION, PERSONALITY, AND GENDER INFLUENCE EEG, CORTISOL, BETA-ENDORPHIN, HEART-RATE, AND SUBJECTIVE RESPONSES TO SMOKING MULTIPLE CIGARETTES, Personality and individual differences, 16(2), 1994, pp. 247-264
EEG, hormonal, and subjective effects of smoking multiple cigarettes w
ere assessed in 8 males and 8 females who smoked their own habitual br
and of cigarette on one occassion, a nicotine-free control cigarette v
ia a quantified smoke delivery system (QSDS) on another occasion, and
standard cigarettes by means of a QSDS on two other occasions. Smoking
nicotine-containing cigarettes decreased drowsiness and delta and the
ta EEG magnitude while it increased serum cortisol. Nicotine enhanced
beta2 magnitude significantly more in the right than left hemisphere.
Nicotine-induced changes in serum cortisol, drowsiness, and EEG magnit
ude correlated with each other, such that increases in cortisol correl
ated with increased arousal. Prior to smoking, nicotine-deprived femal
e nonsmokers, but did not differ in this regard after smoking. Female
smokers also reported more trait depression than other participants. E
xtraversion correlated positively with nicotine-induced decreases in d
rowsiness, theta, and alpha EEG magnitudes, while neuroticism and depr
ession correlated negatively with these changes. BDI depression score
correlated with greater nicotine-free baseline EEG activation of the r
ight than left hemisphere. Nicotine tended to eliminate (normalize) th
is frontal EEG asymmetry that is characteristic of depressed individua
ls.