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Effects of nicotine on human psychomotor performance
Author(s) -
Sherwood Neil
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
human psychopharmacology: clinical and experimental
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.461
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1099-1077
pISSN - 0885-6222
DOI - 10.1002/hup.470080303
Subject(s) - nicotine , psychomotor learning , abstinence , cognition , psychology , medicine , neuroscience , psychiatry
A comprehensive review was conducted to establish whether there were any grounds to the claim that nicotine can enhance human psychomotor performance. Among relevant studies, many failed to distinguish between absolute improvements due to the administration of nicotine (usually in the form of cigarettes) and the relief of the effects of nicotine abstinence among the preferred subject pool of tobacco smokers. However, a few investigations have avoided this anomaly by examining the effects of nicotine in minimally‐abstinent smokers or non‐smokers. The results of these studies suggest that nicotine has small, specific, positive effects on the central nervous system which may facilitate human attention, memory and sensori‐motor function.