Smoking History and Nicotine Effects on Cognitive Performance

Ernst, Monique

doi:10.1016/s0893-133x(01)00257-3

Cited by 215 publications

(190 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Nicotine administration also has been reported to improve reaction time (regardless of smoking status) as well (Ernst et al, 2001a). Consistent with these findings are studies which demonstrate that acute abstinence from smoking (within 12 h) results in slowed response times (Bell et al, 1999;Gross et al, 1993;Thompson et al, 2002).…”

Section: Effect Of Nicotine On Brain Activation During Cognitive Taskssupporting

confidence: 52%

Functional brain imaging of tobacco use and dependence

Brody

2006

Journal of Psychiatric Research

176

136

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While most cigarette smokers endorse a desire to quit smoking, only about 14% to 49% will achieve abstinence after 6 months or more of treatment. A greater understanding of the effects of smoking on brain function may (in conjunction with other lines of research) result in improved pharmacological (and behavioral) interventions. Many research groups have examined the effects of acute and chronic nicotine/cigarette exposure on brain activity using functional imaging; the purpose of this paper is to synthesize findings from such studies and present a coherent model of brain function in smokers. Responses to acute administration of nicotine/smoking include: a reduction in global brain activity; activation of the prefrontal cortex, thalamus, and visual system; activation of the thalamus and visual cortex during visual cognitive tasks; and increased dopamine (DA) concentration in the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens. Responses to chronic nicotine/cigarette exposure include decreased monoamine oxidase (MAO) A and B activity in the basal ganglia and a reduction in α 4 β 2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) availability in the thalamus and putamen. Taken together, these findings indicate that smoking enhances neurotransmission through cortico-basal ganglia-thalamic circuits either by direct stimulation of nAChRs, indirect stimulation via DA release or MAO inhibition, or a combination of these factors. Activation of this circuitry may be responsible for the effects of smoking seen in tobacco dependent subjects, such as improvements in attentional performance, mood, anxiety, and irritability.

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Section: Effect Of Nicotine On Brain Activation During Cognitive Taskssupporting

confidence: 52%

Functional brain imaging of tobacco use and dependence

Brody

2006

Journal of Psychiatric Research

176

136

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Previous studies investigating the effects of nicotine on attention in nonsmokers without psychiatric disorder have yielded inconsistent findings (Heishman et al, 1993;Le Houezec et al, 1994;Foulds et al, 1996;Levin et al, 1998;Heishman and Henningfield, 2000;Ernst et al, 2001;Mumenthaler et al, 2003;Sacco et al, 2004). Although it has been suggested that individuals with optimal baseline performance may experience deterioration in performance with nAChR stimulation unless task demands are very high (Newhouse et al, 2004), variation in findings may also be attributed to differences in the measure used to assess attentional performance or, as above, to pharmacological differences such as dose or mode of administration of nicotine.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Transdermal Nicotine on Cognition in Nonsmokers with Schizophrenia and Nonpsychiatric Controls

Barr

Culhane

Jubelt

et al. 2007

Neuropsychopharmacol

215

151

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Abundant evidence indicates that the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) system is integral to regulation of attentional processes and is dysregulated in schizophrenia. Nicotinic agonists may have potential for the treatment of cognitive impairment in this disease. This study investigated the effects of transdermal nicotine on attention in individuals with schizophrenia (n ¼ 28) and healthy controls (n ¼ 32). All participants were nonsmokers in order to eliminate confounding effects of nicotine withdrawal and reinstatement that may occur in the study of smokers. Subjects received 14 mg transdermal nicotine and identical placebo in a randomized, placebocontrolled, crossover design. A cognitive battery was conducted before and 3 h after each patch application. The primary outcome measure was performance on the Continuous Performance Test Identical Pairs (CPT-IP) Version. Nicotine significantly improved the performance on the CPT-IP as measured by hit reaction time, hit reaction time standard deviation and random errors in both groups. In addition, nicotine reduced commission errors on the CPT-IP and improved the performance on a Card Stroop task to a greater extent in those with schizophrenia vs controls. In summary, nicotine improved attentional performance in both groups and was associated with greater improvements in inhibition of impulsive responses in subjects with schizophrenia. These results confirm previous findings that a single dose of nicotine improves attention and suggest that nicotine may specifically improve response inhibition in nonsmokers with schizophrenia.

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“…A growing body of evidence suggests that chronic smoking, independent of substance abuse disorders, is associated with adverse effects on several domains of neurocognition, including executive skills, learning and memory, processing speed, and working memory (e.g., Ernst et al, 2001;Heffernan et al, 2005;Kalmijn et al, 2002;Paul et al, 2006;Razani et al, 2004;Richards et al, 2003). In a large cohort of community-recruited actively drinking and abstinent alcoholics, Glass et al (2006) found that both alcoholism and smoking severity were inversely related to neurocognitive function, and smoking severity (i.e., pack years) was a unique predictor of general intelligence and cognitive proficiency (i.e., an index of both speed and accuracy).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-treatment-seeking heavy drinkers: Effects of chronic cigarette smoking on brain structure

Durazzo

Cardenas

Studholme

et al. 2007

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

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We previously reported [Cardenas, V.A., Studholme, C., Meyerhoff, D.J., Song, E., Weiner, M.W., 2005. Chronic active heavy drinking and family history of problem drinking modulate regional brain tissue volumes. Psychiatry Res. 138, 115−130] that non-treatment-seeking, active heavy drinkers (HD) demonstrated smaller regional neocortical gray matter volumes compared to light drinking controls; however, the potential effects of chronic cigarette smoking on regional brain volumes were not addressed. The goal of this retrospective analysis was to determine if chronic smoking affected brain structure in the non-treatment-seeking heavy drinking sample from our earlier report (i.e., Cardenas et al., 2005). Regional volumetric comparisons were made among age-matched smoking HD (n = 17), non-smoking HD (n = 16), and non-smoking light drinkers (nsLD; n = 20) from our original sample. Quantitative volumetric measures of neocortical gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), subcortical structures, and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) were derived from high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging. Smoking HD demonstrated smaller volumes than nsLD in the frontal, parietal, temporal GM, and for total neocortical GM. Smoking HD also demonstrated smaller temporal and total GM volumes than non-smoking HD. Non-smoking HD and nsLD did not differ significantly on GM volumes. Further, the three groups did not differ on lobar WM, subcortical structures or regional CSF volumes. These retrospective analyses indicate neocortical GM volume reductions in non-treatment-seeking smoking HD, but not in non-smoking HD, which are consistent with our studies in recently detoxified treatment-seeking alcohol-dependent samples.

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Smoking History and Nicotine Effects on Cognitive Performance

Cited by 215 publications

References 35 publications

Functional brain imaging of tobacco use and dependence

Functional brain imaging of tobacco use and dependence

The Effects of Transdermal Nicotine on Cognition in Nonsmokers with Schizophrenia and Nonpsychiatric Controls

Non-treatment-seeking heavy drinkers: Effects of chronic cigarette smoking on brain structure

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