Hammersley Jonathan J, Gilbert David G, Rzetelny Adam, Rabinovich Norka E
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Department of Psychology, Carbondale, IL 62901-6502, USA.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2016 Oct;149:9-16. doi: 10.1016/j.pbb.2016.07.006. Epub 2016 Jul 25.
Given baseline-dependent effects of nicotine on other forms of attention, there is reason to believe that inconsistent findings for the effects of nicotine on attentional orienting may be partly due to individual differences in baseline (abstinence state) functioning. Individuals with low baseline attention may benefit more from nicotine replacement.
The effects of nicotine as a function of baseline performance (bottom, middle, and top third of mean reaction times during placebo) were assessed in 52 habitual abstinent smokers (26 females/26 males) utilizing an arrow-cued covert orienting of attention task.
Compared to a placebo patch, a 14mg nicotine patch produced faster overall reaction times (RTs). In addition, individuals with slower RTs during the placebo condition benefitted more from nicotine on cued trials than did those who had shorter (faster) RTs during placebo. Nicotine also enhanced the validity effect (shorter RTs to validly vs. invalidly cued targets), but this nicotine benefit did not differ as a function of overall placebo-baseline performance.
These findings support the view that nicotine enhances cued spatial attentional orienting in individuals who have slower RTs during placebo (nicotine-free) conditions; however, baseline-dependent effects may not generalize to all aspects of spatial attention. These findings are consistent with findings indicating that nicotine's effects vary as a function of task parameters rather than simple RT speeding or cognitive enhancement.
鉴于尼古丁对其他形式注意力存在基线依赖效应，有理由相信，尼古丁对注意力定向影响的研究结果不一致，可能部分归因于基线（戒断状态）功能的个体差异。基线注意力较低的个体可能从尼古丁替代中获益更多。
利用箭头提示的注意力隐蔽定向任务，对52名习惯性戒烟者（26名女性/26名男性）评估尼古丁作为基线表现（安慰剂期间平均反应时间的底部、中部和顶部三分之一）函数的效应。
与安慰剂贴片相比，14毫克尼古丁贴片使总体反应时间（RTs）更快。此外，在安慰剂条件下反应时间较慢的个体，在提示试验中从尼古丁获得的益处比安慰剂期间反应时间较短（较快）的个体更多。尼古丁还增强了有效性效应（对有效提示目标的反应时间比对无效提示目标的反应时间短），但这种尼古丁益处并未因总体安慰剂基线表现而有所不同。
这些发现支持以下观点，即尼古丁可增强在安慰剂（无尼古丁）条件下反应时间较慢个体的提示性空间注意力定向；然而，基线依赖效应可能并不适用于空间注意力的所有方面。这些发现与表明尼古丁效应随任务参数而非简单的反应时间加快或认知增强而变化的研究结果一致。
