Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Nicotine Dependence Service, 1025 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON, M6J2H4, Canada.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2022 Nov;239(11):3711-3721. doi: 10.1007/s00213-022-06245-y. Epub 2022 Oct 1.
One of the behavioural features of tobacco use disorder is the presence of attentional bias (AB) to smoking-related stimuli. However, much of the research investigating these associations have been limited to the use of reaction-based indices.
We aimed to investigate differences in AB to smoking, affective, and sensation-seeking cues in smokers and non-smokers using novel, free-viewing, eye-tracking technology. Secondary aims included investigating impulsivity-by-group interaction effects on AB to sensation-seeking cues.
Participants were either otherwise-healthy smokers of at least 8 cigarettes per day or otherwise-healthy non-smokers (< 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and no smoking in the past year). AB was measured using a free-viewing, eye-tracking system. Participants were presented a series of slides divided into 3 themes: smoking, affective, and sensation-seeking. Each slide contained 4 images (1 theme-related, 1 neutral, 2 competitive). Primary outcome measure was the difference in the proportion of time spent viewing the theme-related cue to neutral cue. Impulsivity was measured using a monetary delayed discounting task.
The sample consisted of 50 smokers (41 ± 12 years old) and 50 age- and sex-matched non-smokers (40 ± 14 years old). Smokers spent over 2 times longer looking at smoking-related images than non-smokers (F = 25.50, p < 0.001). As well, greater impulsivity was significantly associated with increased AB to sensation-seeking cues (R = 0.059, F = 2.98, p = 0.04) in smokers but not non-smokers. No differences were found on AB to affective cues.
The eye-tracking procedure is a sensitive tool for assessing AB in smokers compared to non-smokers to both smoking and sensation-seeking cues.
烟草使用障碍的行为特征之一是对与吸烟相关的刺激存在注意力偏向（AB）。然而，许多研究这些关联的研究都仅限于使用反应为基础的指标。
我们旨在使用新颖的自由观看眼动追踪技术，研究吸烟者和非吸烟者对吸烟、情感和寻求刺激线索的 AB 差异。次要目的包括调查冲动性-组间对寻求刺激线索的 AB 相互作用效应。
参与者为每天至少吸 8 支香烟的健康吸烟者或一生中吸烟少于 100 支且过去一年未吸烟的健康非吸烟者。AB 通过自由观看、眼动追踪系统进行测量。参与者观看一系列幻灯片，分为 3 个主题：吸烟、情感和寻求刺激。每个幻灯片包含 4 张图片（1 个主题相关，1 个中性，2 个竞争）。主要结果测量是观看主题相关线索与中性线索的时间比例差异。冲动性使用货币延迟折扣任务进行测量。
样本包括 50 名吸烟者（41±12 岁）和 50 名年龄和性别匹配的非吸烟者（40±14 岁）。吸烟者观看与吸烟相关的图像的时间是不吸烟者的两倍多（F=25.50，p<0.001）。此外，吸烟者的冲动性越大，对寻求刺激线索的 AB 增加越明显（R=0.059，F=2.98，p=0.04），但非吸烟者则不然。在对情感线索的 AB 上未发现差异。
与非吸烟者相比，眼动追踪程序是一种敏感的工具，可用于评估吸烟者对吸烟和寻求刺激线索的 AB。
