The Effect of Non-nicotine Sensorimotor Replacement on Withdrawal and Craving: Studies With Electronic and De-nicotinised Cigarettes

There are currently two sensorimotor replacement products which may be of benefit in smoking cessation: de-nicotinised cigarettes (denics) and electronic cigarettes (ECs), and the purpose of this project is to investigate whether these replacements can help to alleviate tobacco withdrawal symptoms in smokers, during a period of abstinence. This project will be separated into two studies, following the same design and procedures.

Study 1 will seek to confirm the importance of sensorimotor cues by comparing the efficacy of a nicotine-free EC in alleviating withdrawal symptoms, to a behavioural distraction tool (e.g. stress ball) which provides no smoking-related cues.

Study 2 will investigate whether sensorimotor replacements which are more proximal to smoking (i.e. Denics), will be more effective in alleviating withdrawal symptoms than a replacement which only delivers some of the conditioned sensorimotor cues (i.e. ECs).

The investigators hypothesise that the EC will be more effective at reducing withdrawal symptoms compared to the stress ball in Study 1. In Study 2, it is hypothesised that the Denic will be more effective than the EC.