Mendrek Adrianna, Monterosso John, Simon Sara L, Jarvik Murray, Brody Arthur, Olmstead Richard, Domier Catherine P, Cohen Mark S, Ernst Monique, London Edythe D
Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Addict Behav. 2006 May;31(5):833-44. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2005.06.009. Epub 2005 Jul 11.
The present study was designed to examine the effect of cigarette smoking and withdrawal on working memory. Participants included 15 smokers and 22 matched non-smokers. For both groups the N-Back Task (of working memory) was administered in two test blocks on each of two days. On one day, smokers were tested after >or=13 h abstinence; on the other day, testing began <or=1 h after smoking. Smokers inhaled one cigarette between the blocks on each test day. Results indicated that performance of smokers after >or=13 h but not <or=1 h abstinence was significantly less accurate than that of non-smokers. A within-subject comparison revealed that in the abstinence session, smokers had significantly longer response latencies (in the 2-back condition) and made more overall errors compared to the satiety session. Smoking between test blocks in the abstinence session did not significantly affect performance although it significantly reduced craving. These findings provide further evidence for a deficit in working memory associated with acute abstinence from smoking, which may contribute to the difficulty of smoking cessation.
本研究旨在考察吸烟及戒烟对工作记忆的影响。研究对象包括15名吸烟者和22名匹配的非吸烟者。两组均在两天中的每一天进行两个测试块的N-回溯任务（工作记忆测试）。一天，吸烟者在戒烟≥13小时后接受测试；另一天，测试在吸烟后≤1小时开始。吸烟者在每个测试日的两个测试块之间吸一支烟。结果表明，戒烟≥13小时而非≤1小时的吸烟者的表现明显不如非吸烟者准确。受试者内比较显示，在禁欲阶段，与饱腹阶段相比，吸烟者（在2-回溯条件下）的反应潜伏期明显更长，总体错误更多。尽管在禁欲阶段的测试块之间吸烟显著减轻了渴望，但对表现没有显著影响。这些发现为与急性戒烟相关的工作记忆缺陷提供了进一步证据，这可能导致戒烟困难。
