NICOTINE--ATTENTION, AFFECT, GENES, AND VULNERABILITY

该项目的目的是开发和探索旨在更好地描述尼古丁对吸烟者和不吸烟者注意力和情感影响的技术的实用性，并将这些影响与吸烟相关的心理脆弱因素联系起来。作为一个群体，吸烟者容易受到注意力和情绪问题和障碍的影响，包括注意力缺陷、抑郁和其他与负面情感相关的特征和障碍。该项目将扩展先前的注意范式，并验证旨在评估注意力和情感过程的认知-行为和大脑皮层范式。具体地说，该项目将表征尼古丁和尼古丁剥夺对注意力任务的影响，旨在反映不同的注意力系统。其中一些任务将评估在面对外围干扰时将注意力集中在中心任务上的能力。其他任务将评估尼古丁对将注意力分配给横向位置刺激的能力的影响。干扰因素将包括在认知、情感和吸烟相关电位上不同的系统刺激集合。项目研究将通过测量1)注意力分散和注意力表现，2)情感状态，以及3)对所关注的刺激和牵引物的皮层地形图反应来评估经皮贴片注射尼古丁对注意力和情感障碍的影响。尼古丁对偏侧注意系统的影响将通过将分心刺激呈现给中央视野以及通过视觉半视野呈现方式呈现给交替的半球来评估。我们假设尼古丁将增强注意力表现，将负面影响降至最低，特别是在更容易受到注意力障碍和负面情绪/情绪状态影响的人。第二阶段的研究将评估和比较尼古丁对非吸烟者和吸烟者的上述注意力影响。这些知识将有助于制定以理性为基础的治疗策略，旨在增加戒烟。在这两个阶段，我们还将对两个特定的多巴胺受体(DRD2和DRD4)进行基因分型。这些受体与吸烟、注意力缺陷障碍、滥用药物和寻求冲动有关。考虑到上述各种类型的干扰因素，确定的受体在基因上的差异将与尼古丁对情绪和注意力表现的影响有关。

The objective of this project is to develop and explore the utility of techniques designed to better characterize the effects of nicotine on attention and affect in smokers and never-smokers, and to relate these effects to psychological vulnerability factors associated with smoking. As a group, smokers are vulnerable to both attentional and emotional problems and disorders, including attention-deficit, depression, and other negative-affect-related traits and disorders. The project will extend previous attentional paradigms and validate cognitive-behavioral and electrocortical paradigms designed to assess attentional and affective processes. Specifically, the project will characterize effects of nicotine and nicotine deprivation on attentional tasks designed to reflect different attentional systems. Some of these tasks will assess the ability to focus attention on a central task in the face of peripheral distractors. Other tasks will assess the effects of nicotine on the ability to allocate attention to laterally positioned stimuli. Distractors will include systematic collections of stimuli that differ cognitively, affectively, and in smoking- related potential. Project studies will assess the effects of transdermal-patch administered nicotine on attentional and affective dysfunction by measuring 1) distractability and attentional performance, 2) affective state, and 3) electrocortical topographic responses to attended stimuli and distractors. The impact of nicotine on lateralized attentional systems will be assessed by presenting distractor stimuli to a central visual field as well as to alternate hemispheres by means of visual half-field presentations. We hypothesize that nicotine will enhance attentional performance and minimize negative affect, especially in individuals more vulnerable to attentional dysfunction and negative affect/mood states. The second phase of the research will assess and compare the above attentional effects of nicotine in nonsmokers and smokers. This knowledge will be useful in developing rationally-based treatment strategies aimed at increasing smoking abstinence. During both phases, we will also genotype two specific dopamine receptors (DRD2 and DRD4). These receptors have been associated with smoking, attention deficit disorder, drug abuse, and impulsive sensation seeking. Ascertained receptor differences in genotype will be related to the effects of nicotine on mood and attentional performance, given the various types of distractors aforementioned.