Rapid Information Processing and Concomitant Event-Related Brain Potentials in Smokers Differing in CO Absorption

Abstract

The present study relates subject-paced rapid information processing to different components of event-related brain potentials in an attempt to gain more information about changes in mental performance in relation to alveolar smoke absorption as assessed by expired air CO measurement. The task consisted in the presentation of pseudorandom sequences of single digits, and the subjects had to respond to each sequence of three odd or three even digits. The triplets evoked a typical late negativity in the event-related potential between the second and third digit as well as a P300 component following the third digit. In 21 smokers, task performance, event-related potentials and tidal air CO concentration were measured before and after smoking a cigarette. The results revealed increases in performance and P300 magnitude from pre- to postsmoking which were unaffected by the amount of CO absorption. A differential trend was seen, however, with the late negativity, which increased from pre- to postsmoking only in subjects with a large amount of CO absorption. The results support the assumption of the distraction arousal model used as an interpretation of these effects on contingent negative variation and suggest that high CO absorbing smokers possibly depend more on neuropharmacological effects of smoking than smokers with a low amount of CO absorption.

Effects of Nicotine on Cognitive Deficits in Schizophrenia

“…Nicotine has also been found to have an effect on performance on tasks measuring alertness and sustained attention (Wesnes and Warburton, 1983;Michel et al, 1987;Hasenfratz et al, 1989;Snyder et al, 1989;Parrott and Craig, 1992;Gilbert et al, 1997;Mancuso et al, 1999Mancuso et al, , 2001), but fewer studies have reported an effect on tasks that require more elaborated attentional processes or selective attention Warburton, 1978, 1983;Provost and Woodward, 1991). Effects on verbal memory, aside from immediate recall, which may reflect improved attention, have been studied infrequently.…”

Single Doses of Piracetam Affect 42-Channel Event-Related Potential Microstate Maps in a Cognitive Paradigm

“…Some of these functional microstates repeated themselves after each stimulus in the triad of stimulus digits, some were unique and apparently related to special processing re quirements of the stimuli. These latter, task-specific ERP segments appeared before and after the presentation of the third digit, the target; this can be assumed to reflect the different cognitive processes necessary to perform the task correctly [Michel et al" 1987], The first of these seg ments started about 284 ms before the onset of the crucial third stimulus of the triad (segment 14). It was character ized by a left frontal negative landscape which is typical for the CNV component [Walter et al, 1964;Gevins et al, 1987], It continuously increased in strength (global field power) over time, but showed a very stable map landscape that lasted over the presentation of the third digit and overlapped the P 100 elicited by this third stimu lus (segment 15).…”

“…We measured ERPs during a complex visual informa tion processing task that has been shown to be very sensi tive to effects of stimulating as well as tranquilizing drugs [Edwards et al, 1985: Michel et al, 1987Michel and Battig, 1989]. The task requires subjects to watch single digits presented in a pseudorandom order on a screen and to press a button whenever the last three digits were either odd or even.…”

“…The task requires subjects to watch single digits presented in a pseudorandom order on a screen and to press a button whenever the last three digits were either odd or even. Earlier studies showed that the simulta neously measured ERPs included at least two clear cogni tive components: an expectancy-related negativity after the second digit (contingent negative variation, CNV) and a response-related positivity (P300) after the third digit [Michel et al, 1987].…”

Can smoking increase attention in rapid information processing during noise? Electrocortical, physiological and behavioral effects

“…, 1988Michel and B/ittig 1989) is the presention of the digits at a subject-paced rather than at a fixed frequency, which allows room for improvement and impairment in performance as well as an analysis dissociated for responsiveness and stimulus evaluation speed. The three digits of detected triads evoke rather typical electrocortical ERP responses (CNV-related negativity after the second member of a triad and late positivity (LP) after the third, correctly answered member of the triad) which are clearly affected by smoking as well as by psychological variables such as attention, arousal and distraction (Ashton et al 1978;Binnie and Comer 1978;O'Connor 1983;Edwards et al 1985;Michel et al 1987;Michel and B/ittig 1989).The paradigm of the present experiment involved two sessions of two RIP trials each separated for the smoking group by a smoking interval and for the nonsmoking group by a relaxation interval. The noise bursts were presented in one of the two sessions during the second RIP trial only.…”