Nicotine improves antisaccade task performance without affecting prosaccades

Abstract

Although there is ample evidence for a cognitive-attentional benefit of the stimulant nicotine, the source of this benefit is not as well understood. One approach is to address what aspects of performance nicotine affects at a functional systems level. It is currently debated whether the benefits produced by nicotine are the effect of enhanced higher cognitive function or reflect an overall increase in general arousal. In order to address this question, the effects of nicotine on two simple eye movement tasks were studied: the saccade (S) and antisaccade (AS) tasks. Because the S and AS tasks utilize identical sensory stimuli (peripheral targets) and require identical motor responses (eye movements) but differ significantly in their cognitive demands, the use of these two tasks should enable a parsing of nicotine effects on cognitive versus sensory-motor processes. In this study, the S and AS tasks were performed by two experimental groups, task naïve subjects and highly practised subjects. For the first group, that of the task naïve subjects, nicotine gum administration resulted in a decrease in AS errors. For the second group, that of two experienced subjects tested repeatedly over a 3 week period, nicotine also produced a significant decrease in AS task errors, as well as resulting in a significant decrease in AS response times. Neither task naïve nor experienced subjects showed any effects of nicotine on the S task. Examining the effects of nicotine on highly controlled and constrained tasks such as the S and AS task may provide another level of insight into the mechanisms underlying the beneficial cognitive effects of nicotine.

Effect of d-amphetamine on inhibition and motor planning as a function of baseline performance

“…This study did not find any effect on healthy controls but was primarily a study of schizotypy, so it included only seven healthy participants. However, the finding here that Damphetamine reduced antisaccade errors is consistent with previous findings in healthy adults using another stimulant, nicotine (Dépatie et al 2002;Powell et al 2002;Larrison et al 2004;Rycroft et al 2006).…”

Acute effects of nicotine on visual search tasks in young adult smokers

“…Nicotine has previously been shown to improve prepotent response inhibition (Della Casa et al 1998;Larrison Briand and Sereno, 2004). In our study, the strategic change that resulted in more fixations on target letters could reflect more effective inhibition of overt eye-movements towards task irrelevant items, or enhanced monitoring of the ongoing task.…”

“…Similarly intrusive anticipatory saccades that can occur during smooth pursuit eye movements have been argued to reflect a failure of inhibitory control mechanisms [Avila et al 2003]. Studies in patients with schizophrenia, who demonstrate both increased antisaccade errors and impaired smooth pursuit have found that nicotine can significantly ameliorate both of these deficits [Olincy et al, 2003;Larrison Briand and Sereno, 2004). Avila et al (2003) have reported that nicotine reduces the number of leading (or anticipatory) saccades during smooth pursuit tasks both in people with schizophrenia and in healthy controls.…”

Behavioral Inhibition and Addiction

“…For example, nicotine has been shown to decrease inhibitory failures on the antisaccade task compared to placebo (Larrison, Briand, and Sereno, 2004), especially in regular smokers following a period of abstinence (Dawkins et al, 2007;Powell, Dawkins, and Davis, 2002). Similarly, amphetamine decreased inhibition errors on the antisaccade task in a group of healthy controls (Allman, 2010), and methylphenidate did the same in a sample of young adults with ADHD (Klein, Fischer, Fischer, and Hartnegg, 2002).…”