Investigating Stress-Potentiated Memory Updating as a Novel Intervention for Non-Treatment Seeking Smokers
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Cigarette Smoking
- Sponsor
- Marco Leyton
- Enrollment
- 76
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Change in cigarettes smoked per day from the pre-intervention baseline to test sessions 2 and 3 given two and six weeks post-intervention
- Last Updated
- 5 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
Interventions to disrupt memory reconsolidation have held promise for the treatment of stress- and anxiety-related disorders. In the present study, the investigators will examine whether an intervention based on these principles, called memory updating, could be adapted for reward-seeking behaviors. To test this, non-treatment seeking tobacco smokers will be exposed to smoking cues and/or stress, two stimuli known to trigger smoking. It is predicted that exposure to a stress task will enhance the cues' motivational salience and yield greater susceptibility to the memory updating procedure.
As an add-on, the investigators will examine COVID-associated changes in substance use and whether participants in the memory updating groups might be more resilient to these effects. It is predicted that the changes in substance use will depend on whether the substances are used primarily in social settings.
Detailed Description
Non-treatment seeking cigarette dependent smokers will be randomized to one of four testing conditions: 1) a non-stressful task followed by neutral cues, 2) the non-stressful task followed by smoking cues, 3) a stressful task followed by neutral cues, or 4) the stressful task followed by smoking cues. Ten minutes after the intervention, participants will undergo a 60-minute extinction procedure consisting of smoking-related videos, images and smoking paraphernalia. Cue reactivity test sessions will take place 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks following the intervention. COVID-associated changes in substance use will be quantified over three telephone interviews: one at the end of March / beginning of April 2020 (at the start of the pandemic), one at the end of April / beginning of May, and a final one which will be instituted if feasible once the infection rates and social distancing policies have decreased.
Investigators
Marco Leyton
Professor
McGill University Health Centre/Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •Scoring 5 or higher on the Fagerström Test for Cigarette Dependence
- •Willingness to abstain from smoking for 4 hours prior to each laboratory visit
Exclusion Criteria
- •Currently using cigarette cessation products
- •Endocrinological problems
- •Significant mental or physical health conditions
- •Pregnancy
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Change in cigarettes smoked per day from the pre-intervention baseline to test sessions 2 and 3 given two and six weeks post-intervention
Time Frame: At the end of test session 1 (24 hours post-intervention), participants will receive a journal to record their daily smoking behaviour. They are asked to keep this journal until test session 3 (6 weeks post-intervention).
A journal is given to participants to record their cigarette use behaviour every day for a month and a half
Secondary Outcomes
- Change in smoking cue-induced cigarette cravings from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 2(Multiple times points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention.)
- Change in smoking cue-induced cigarette cravings from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 3(Multiple times points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention.)
- Change in smoking cue-induced heart rate responses from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 2(Multiple time points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention)
- Change in smoking cue-induced heart rate responses from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 3(Multiple time points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention)
- Change in smoking cue-induced skin conductance responses from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 2(Multiple time points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention)
- Change in smoking cue-induced skin conductance responses from the pre-intervention baseline to test session 3(Multiple time points during the baseline, intervention and test sessions at 24 hours, 2 weeks and 6 weeks post-intervention)
- Change in tobacco and other substance use patterns from the pre-COVID-19 baseline to during COVID-19(Multiple time points at baseline (before the pandemic), at the start of the pandemic, and during the pandemic)
- Change in tobacco and other substance use patterns from the pre-COVID-19 baseline to post-COVID-19(At baseline (before the pandemic) and through study completion, an average of 1 year)
- Change in tobacco and other substance use patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic to post-COVID-19(Multiple time points during the pandemic and through study completion, an average of 1 year)