CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Reality of Beneficial Aspects

of Smoking and Nicotine

Professor David M. Warburton

(Neil Sherwood)

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

David M.

Warburton

A Retrospective

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

US Surgeon General 1988

“Smokers claim that smoking improves

their performance and mood…”

But this finding effectively ignored for the

remainder of the report!

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

West 1993

Beneficial Effects of Nicotine: Fact or

Fiction?

West says Fiction!

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Parrott 2003

Cigarette-Derived Nicotine is Not a

Medicine

“…cigarette smoking does not provide

mood control benefits, but rather

nicotine dependency is associated with

mood lability…”

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Our Questions Today

Are smokers deluded?

Are the reported improvements in

performance and mood merely due to

relief of nicotine withdrawal?

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Effects of Smoking on

Performance

Warburton DM and Arnell C (1994)

Improvements in performance without nicotine

withdrawal

Psychopharmacology 115, 539-542

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Rapid Visual Information

Processing Test

1 9 4 8 7 2 5 1 3 4 6 5 3 8 2 6 5

_________________|______________|_

- Correct Detections (Hits)

- Latency (Time to Respond)

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Smoking Regimen

Healthy undergraduate students

Smoking more than 15 cigarettes per day

Minimally deprived for two hours

Puff-by-puff methodology

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

18 Smokers

Sham Smokers

RVIP – Mean Number of Hits

Time (minutes)

Smoking start

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RVIP – Mean Reaction Time

18 Smokers

Sham Smokers

Time (minutes)

Smoking start

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Effects of Nicotine on

Performance in Non-smokers

Wesnes K and Warburton DM (1984)

Effects of scopolamine and nicotine on

human rapid visual information processing

Psychopharmacology 82, 147-150

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Effects of Nicotine on Performance

in Alzheimer Patients

Sahakian BJ, Jones GMM, Levy R, Gray JR

and Warburton DM (1989)

Effects of nicotine on attention, information

processing and short-term memory in patients

with dementia of the Alzheimer type

British Journal of Psychiatry 154, 797-800

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Spilich 1993

A review of the effects of smoking and

nicotine upon cognitive performance

"… the effect of nicotine upon cognitive

performance has been conducted with a

very restricted set of tasks …..all of which

involve a rapid response to a simple

perceptual demand."

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Effects of Smoking on Complex

Information Processing

Warburton DM, Skinner A and Martin CD (2001)

Improved incidental memory with nicotine after

semantic processing

Psychopharmacology 153, 258-263

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Task Requirements

DOG - CHICKEN - TAXI - LIGHT

Phonological Task: 1 or 2 syllables?

Semantic Task: Are these alive or not?

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Phonological Processing

Signal

↓

Physical Features

↓

Letters

↓

Syllables (One or Two)

↓

Decision (Press Left or Right)

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Semantic Processing Signal

↓

Physical Features

↓

Letters

↓

Word Recognition

↓

Class (Living or Non-Living)

↓

Decision (Press Left or Right)

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Smoking Regimen

Healthy undergraduate students

Smoking more than 15 cigarettes per day

Minimally deprived for two hours

Non-smoker comparison group

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Reaction Time

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Phonological Semantic

Non-smokers Smokers sham Smokers smoking

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Number of Words Remembered

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Phonological Semantic

Non-smokers Smokers sham Smokers smoking

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

A Possible Mechanism

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Effects of Smoking on Mood

Warburton DM (1988)

The Functional Use of Nicotine

In: Nicotine, Smoking and the Low-tar

Programme (Eds. Wald N & Froggatt P)

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Mood Measurement

Psychopharmacology scales for mood

Happy__________|___________Sad

Relaxed __________|___________Tense

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Smoking Regimen

Healthy undergraduate students

Smoking more than 15 cigarettes per day

Minimally deprived for two hours

Puff-by-puff methodology

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Stressors and Smoking

Warburton DM (1990)

Psychopharmacological Aspects of Nicotine

In: Nicotine Psychopharmacology (Eds.

Wonnacott S, Russell MAH & Stolerman IP)

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

The Stressors

Lo-Stress situation:

Rapid Visual Information Processing

Hi-Stress situation:

RVIP and “Your performance is being

filmed and will be assessed by a panel of

trained psychologists”

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Smoking Regimen

Healthy undergraduate students

Smoking more than 15 cigarettes per day

Minimally deprived for two hours

20 high in Neuroticism (Hi N)

20 low in Neuroticism (Lo N)

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Smoking Behaviour Measures

Puff Number (from video)

Puff Interval (from video)

Butt Nicotine

End-tidal carbon monoxide boost

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Puff Number

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Lo Stress Hi Stress

Lo N

Hi N

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Puff Interval (sec)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Lo Stress Hi Stress

Lo N

Hi N

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Smoking Intensity

BUTT NICOTINE

--------------------------------------- X 100

MACHINE-ESTIMATED YIELD

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Smoking Intensity (%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Lo Stress Hi Stress

Lo N

Hi N

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CO Boost (ppm)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Lo Stress Hi Stress

Lo N

Hi N

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Lo N - More or Less Calm?

-0.2

-0.1

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Lo Stress Hi Stress

No Smoke

Smoke

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Hi N - More or Less Calm?

-1.4

-1.2

-1

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

Lo Stress Hi Stress

No Smoke

Smoke

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Pathway from Genes to Smoking

Neuroticism Genes

Prone to Anxiety Prone to Depression

Self-Medication by Smoking

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

The Functional Model

Smoking has functions for the

smoker

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CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Smoking is Purposive and

Rational

•Individuals control their psychological state

•Coping with problems and enhancing function

•Satisfies everyday psychological needs and so is pleasurable

•Enhances quality of life

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Users are a Heterogeneous Group

•Smokers use the product for different reasons

•Mood changing, performance enhancement or

sensory pleasure

•May have different functions for a person on

different occasions

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CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Motivation

•Both exogenous and endogenous motives

•Use determined by the interaction of the person and the situation

•Reasons can predate commencement

•People will vary their consumption and smoking behaviour depending on the situation

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Quitting

•Experiences vary, because the functions differ

for individuals

•Not a stereotyped withdrawal syndrome

•Unhappiness due to both loss of functions and

to the loss of personal control over their

psychological state

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CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Resumption of Smoking

•As a result of abstinence experiences,

individuals may choose to return to smoking

•Decision to resume may be countered by

– Family Pressure

– Societal Pressure

– Health Considerations

CORESTA Kyoto 2004

Thanks to:

Gemma Jones

Neena Kochhar

Giovanna Mancuso

Andy Revell

Dewi Thompson

Anne Walters