Assessing Top Down and Bottom Up Attention Mechanisms in Smokers Using Nicotine Nasal Spray

Background:

• Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, and researchers are interested in gaining a better understanding of the perceived beneficial effects of nicotine to help improve treatment strategies for nicotine dependence. Understanding the conditions under which nicotine improves attention and cognitive processing may provide more useful information for this research.
• The ability to pay attention and filter relevant from irrelevant stimuli is central to all aspects of information-processing. Top-down and bottom-up attentional processes illustrate how the brain combines stimuli and goal-directed behaviors. Bottom-up processing is an unconscious response to sensory input; for instance, when the eyes automatically focus on a prominent image in a picture. Top-down processing is a conscious response to drive attention toward specific stimuli; for instance, when a person is asked to focus on a less immediately noticeable image in a picture. Researchers are interested in determining whether nicotine improves cognitive performance by acting on top-down or bottom-up attentional mechanisms.

Objectives:

• To investigate the effect of nicotine on the top-down and bottom-up mechanisms of attention in cigarette smokers.

Eligibility:

• Current smokers (at least 10 cigarettes per day for at least 1 year) between 18 and 55 years of age.

Design:

• This study will involve one training session and four experimental sessions.
• During the training session, participants will receive a sample dose of the nicotine nasal spray used in the study to determine if they can tolerate the effects.
• For each experimental session, participants will receive one dose of nicotine nasal spray (1 mg, 2 mg, or 3 mg) or placebo spray, followed by blood pressure and heart rate monitoring, performance of an attentional test, and questionnaires to rate participants perception of nicotine effectiveness. Participants may receive different doses at different sessions, and will not be told which dose they will receive at any given point.