G. Mancuso et al., Effects of nicotine administered via a transdermal delivery system on vigilance: a repeated measure study, PSYCHOPHAR, 142(1), 1999, pp. 18-23
Fifteen 18- to 25-year-old male smokers were tested in a within-subjects de
sign to determine the influence of a transdermal patch of 21 mg nicotine on
vigilance. Subjects were tested on the RVIP test (Rapid Visual Information
Processing test) 1.30, 3.00 and 6.30 h after patch application, to verify
the involvement of the dose of nicotine on the performance. This study conf
irms and extends the increasing effects of nicotine on vigilance previously
found with orally and transdermally given nicotine. Moreover, it showed th
at such performance was independent of the time of nicotine absorption (1.3
0, 3.00 and 6.30 h after patch application), which suggests that a relative
ly low dose of nicotine suffices to activate vigilance processing. Regardin
g motor performance, no convincing effect of nicotine was observed on react
ion time.