Effects of cigarette smoking and smoking deprivation on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance.

Abstract

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) performance was assessed in 24 heavy smokers and 12 nonsmokers recruited from universities in the United States and Japan. Half of the smokers performed the WCST after abstaining from tobacco for 12 hr, whereas the remaining smokers smoked a cigarette of their preferred brand immediately before the test. Nonsmokers did not smoke. The WCST was administered by computer, first with standard instructions and then a second time with abbreviated instructions that specified the 3 sorting criteria. Results from the second run indicated that abstinent smokers made significantly more perseverative responses and errors than did nonsmokers or smoking smokers. Results expand on previous findings of effects of smoking deprivation on human cognitive performance.Given the tremendous amount of information disseminated to the public in recent years concerning the health hazards of tobacco smoking, the fact that many heavy smokers continue to smoke is surprising. The most widely accepted interpretation of the smoking habit is that smoking represents a dependence on the drug nicotine (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [US-DHHS], 1988; West, 1992). Although substantial evidence supports the notion of nicotine as an addictive drug, nicotine dependence does not easily fit into the paradigms that explain other drug dependencies. For example, nicotine is unlike "classic" addictive drugs, such as opiates, cocaine, and the amphetamines, in that it is a relatively weak primary reinforcer in certain animal selfadministration studies (J.H. Robinson & Pritchard, 1992;Slifer & Balster, 1985). Furthermore, repeated administration of nicotine does not lead to

Effects of caffeine on cognitive and autonomic measures in heavy and light caffeine consumers

“…The nonselective effect on both perseverative and nonperseverative types of errors suggests a nonspecific cognitive enhancing effect of the drug in LCCs rather than a specific effect on cognitive processes mediated by the prefrontal cortex. The absence of any apparent effect of caffeine on WCST performance in HCCs suggests simple tolerance without abstinence or restorative effects, and can be contrasted with the restorative effects of nicotine on WCST performance in heavy smokers (Lyvers et al, 1994). The present findings thus did not support the hypothesis in James (1997) that improvement in performance following caffeine is generally due to reversal of withdrawal-induced deficits.…”

“…A fully between-subjects design was employed because of the strong effects of repeated testing on both WCST performance (Lyvers & Maltzman, 1991b) and SCRs (Lyvers, Boyd, & Maltzman, 1988), which would likely obscure caffeine effects or complicate their interpretation. T o qualify for inclusion in the study, participants were required to (a) be between the ages of 18 to 35 years; (b) be nonsmokers, to avoid nicotine effects on WCST and SCR measures (Lyvers & Miyata, 1993;Lyvers et al, 1994); (c) report typical caffeine intake that met the above criteria for either HCC or LCC; (d) have no prior history of treatment or arrest for illicit drug-or alcohol-related problems; and (e) normally consume no more than 14 standard alcoholic drinks per week. T o recruit subjects, flyers were posted on the campuses of Bond and Griffith-Gold Coast Universities and an email request was sent to all Bond students.…”

Neuropsychological correlates of opioid dependence and withdrawal

“…People with frontal lobe damage tend to make perseverative responses (PRs) and errors (PEs) (Robinson et al, 1980) on this test. The dual run procedure used in the present study has been shown to increase the sensitivity of the Neuropsychological Correlates of Opioid Dependence 4 WCST to frontal lobe dysfunction (Stuss et al, 1983) and drug effects (Lyvers & Maltzman, 1991;Lyvers et al, 1994) and more selectively activates the prefrontal cortex than the standard procedure does (Berman et al, 1995;Smith et al, 1997). In recognition of their sensitivity to prefrontal cortex dysfunction (Mountain & Snow, 1993), the crucial WCST measures in the present study were the percentages of responses that were PEs (%PE) and PRs (%PR), with the percentage of responses that were nonperseverative errors (%NPE) serving as a control index of nonspecific cognitive impairment.…”

“…Previous research by Lyvers and colleagues (Lyvers & Maltzman, 1991;Lyvers, Maltzman & Miyata, 1994) has shown that the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), a widely used index of executive cognitive functioning, is surprisingly sensitive to the effects of mild psychoactive doses of alcohol or nicotine. Measures of perseveration selectively distinguished drug from placebo or withdrawal conditions; perseveration measures are consistently elevated in persons who have suffered frontal lobe injury (Robinson, Heaton, Lehman, & Stilson, 1980).…”

Smoking History and Nicotine Effects on Cognitive Performance

“…In nicotine-dependent individuals, tobacco deprivation can impair attentional and cognitive abilities within 12 h of smoking cessation (Bell et al 1999;Gross et al 1993;Lyvers et al 1994), and nicotine administration or cigarette smoking can reverse such deficits to predeprivation performance levels (Bell et al 1999;Parrott and Roberts 1991). Whether improved performance associated with relief from withdrawal should be considered cognitive enhancement has been questioned (Heishman et al 1994;Hughes 1991).…”