Accessibility and availability of smoking-related associations in smokers

A free association test was used in the present study to examine the availa bility and accessibility of positive vs negative smoking-related informatio n in the long-term memories of smokers. Participants were asked to generate smoking-related associations across a 4-minute interval. Although smokers generated more positive smoking-associations than non-smokers, both groups produced a greater number of negative than positive associations per se. Of particular interest was the finding that whilst the ratio of positive/nega tive associations generated was constant across time in non-smokers, this r atio varied in smokers. Specifically, smokers generated proportionately mor e of their available positive associations and proportionately less of thei r negative associations in the early time interval. It is suggested that th ese results not only indicate a greater availability of positive smoking-as sociations in smokers compared to non-smokers, but also a greater accessibi lity too. It is proposed that positive smoking associations are more automa tically activated than negative associations in smokers, even though they h ave generally more negative associations available.