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The separate and combined effects of nicotine and alcohol on working memory capacity in nonabstinent smokers
- Source :
- Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology. 18(2)
- Publication Year :
- 2010
-
Abstract
- Research indicates that nicotine and alcohol are often used on the same occasion. However, the reasons for their concurrent use are not well understood. We hypothesized that one reason smokers use tobacco when they drink alcohol is to compensate for alcohol's negative effects on processing capacity with nicotine's enhancement of processing capacity. As such, the present study tested this theory by using an independent groups design to examine the separate and combined acute effects of alcohol and nicotine on working memory (WM) capacity. Nonabstinent daily smokers (n = 127) performed the counting span task (CSPAN) after consuming either an alcohol (men: 0.8 g/kg; women: 0.7 g/kg) or placebo beverage and smoking either nicotinized (1.14 mg nicotine, 15.9 mg tar) or denicotinized (.06 mg nicotine, 17.9 mg tar) cigarettes. Analyses revealed that smokers who smoked the nicotinized cigarettes performed significantly worse on the CSPAN task than smokers who smoked the denicotinized cigarettes. Although there was no main effect of alcohol on WM performance, women exhibited better WM performance than men after consuming alcohol whereas men performed better than women on the WM task after consuming the placebo beverage. Findings also revealed no interaction between the two substances on WM performance. Taken together, results suggest that nicotine impairs nonabstinent smokers' verbal WM capacity and that gender moderates the effects of alcohol on WM. Furthermore, the present findings failed to support the notion that nicotine compensates for alcohol-related decrements in working memory capacity.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
Nicotine
Short-term memory
Alcohol
Placebo
Placebos
chemistry.chemical_compound
Tar (tobacco residue)
Medicine
Humans
Pharmacology (medical)
Drug Interactions
Pharmacology
Carbon Monoxide
Sex Characteristics
Ethanol
business.industry
Working memory
Smoking
Psychiatry and Mental health
Memory, Short-Term
chemistry
Breath Tests
Female
business
Alcoholic Intoxication
Psychomotor Performance
Clinical psychology
medicine.drug
Sex characteristics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19362293
- Volume :
- 18
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....04ad11cf4dd2cf486686d770da520e16