Work

Out for a Smoke

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: Cigarette craving has powerful effects on cognitive functioning, which may promote smoking behavior and relapse. One area of cognition that has had little impact on craving research is human consciousness. Developments in consciousness research using a mindless-reading paradigm permit examination of the effects of craving on both the occurrence and the awareness of mental lapses. Forty-four smokers, who were either nicotine deprived (crave condition) or nondeprived (low-crave condition), performed a mindless-reading task. This task assesses both self-caught and probe-caught mind-wandering episodes to distinguish between lapses that are within and outside of awareness. Compared with the low cravers, those in the cigarette-crave condition were significantly more likely to acknowledge that their mind was wandering when they were probed. When we adjusted for this more-than-threefold increase in zoning out, craving also lowered the probability of catching oneself. Results suggest that craving simultaneously increases mental lapses while reducing the metacognitive capacity to notice them.

Source: Psychological Science

DOI: 10.1177/0956797609354059

Authors: Michael A. Sayette, Jonathan W. Schooler, Erik D. Reichle

Institutions: University of Pittsburgh, University of California, Santa Barbara

Language: English

Topic: Mind wandering and attention

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute on Drug Abuse