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Effects of Smoking/Nicotine on Anxiety, Heart Rate, and Lateralization of EEG During a Stressful Movie
Author(s) -
Gilbert David G.,
Robinson John H.,
Chamberlin Carl L.,
Spielberger Charles D.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.1989.tb01924.x
Subject(s) - psychology , lateralization of brain function , nicotine , anxiety , heart rate , electroencephalography , audiology , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , psychiatry , neuroscience , medicine , blood pressure
The effects of smoking cigarettes with differing FTC nicotine deliveries on anxiety and EEG activity were evaluated in 40 smokers who were compared with 40 non‐smokers, matched for age and gender. Following smoking (sham‐smoking in the case of the non‐smokers), the participants viewed a stress‐inducing movie. Smoking higher‐nicotine delivery cigarettes during the movie, as compared to smoking low‐nicotine control cigarettes, was associated with reductions in anxiety and right hemisphere activation, increased heart rate, and enhancement of the ratio of left‐hemisphere parietal EEG activation to right‐hemisphere activation. These results are interpreted as indicating that the anxiolytic effects of nicotine may be mediated by the right hemisphere. The EEG activity and emotional responses of non‐smokers were more like those of smokers who smoked the lower‐nicotine cigarettes than those of smokers of the higher‐nicotine cigarettes.