The overall goal of this proposal is to examine nicotine effects on cognition in non-smoking adults. It has been suggested that positive reinforcing effects of nicotine include improved cognitive performance. Attention, the ability to differentially process simultaneous sources of information, is one cognitive faculty reportedly enhanced by nicotine.
The specific aims are: 1) to examine nicotine's behavioral effects on attention and 2) to examine nicotine's electrophysiological effects on attention. Behavioral effects to be examined include nicotine improvement of reaction times on three cognitive tests of attention. The three experiments will examine whether nicotine improvement is due to faster attentional shifting, the selective speeding of components of each attentional shift, or an expansion of a subject's attended field of view. Electrophysiological measures include electroencephalography (EEG), which will be used to determine if nicotine improvement of RTs is partly due to non-specific effects on alertness. Amplitude changes in event-related potentials (ERPs) will be used to examine if faster attentional shifting or an expanded field of view might also underlie improved behavioral performance.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
5F31DA005903-02
Application #
6087565
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDA1-MXS-M (09))
Program Officer
Babecki, Beth
Project Start
1999-10-17
Project End
Budget Start
1999-10-17
Budget End
2000-10-16
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1999
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Oregon Health and Science University
Department
Other Basic Sciences
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
009584210
City
Portland
State
OR
Country
United States
Zip Code
97239
Griesar, William S; Zajdel, Daniel P; Oken, Barry S (2002) Nicotine effects on alertness and spatial attention in non-smokers. Nicotine Tob Res 4:185-94