Meta-analysis of the acute effects of nicotine and smoking on human performance

Abstract

Rationale and objective Empirical studies indicate that nicotine enhances some aspects of attention and cognition, suggesting a role in the maintenance of tobacco dependence. The purpose of this review was to update the literature since our previous review (Heishman et al. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol 2:345–395, 1994) and to determine which aspects of human performance were most sensitive to the effects of nicotine and smoking. Methods We conducted a meta-analysis on the outcome measures of 41 double-blind, placebo-controlled laboratory studies published from 1994 to 2008. In all studies, nicotine was administered, and performance was assessed in healthy adult nonsmokers or smokers who were not tobacco-deprived or minimally deprived (≤2 h). Results There were sufficient effect size data to conduct meta-analyses on nine performance domains, including motor abilities, alerting and orienting attention, and episodic and working memory. We found significant positive effects of nicotine or smoking on six domains: fine motor, alerting attention-accuracy and response time (RT), orienting attention-RT, short-term episodic memory-accuracy, and working memory-RT (effect size range=0.16 to 0.44). Conclusions The significant effects of nicotine on motor abilities, attention, and memory likely represent true performance enhancement because they are not confounded by withdrawal relief. The beneficial cognitive effects of nicotine have implications for initiation of smoking and maintenance of tobacco dependence.

The effect of nicotine on sensorimotor gating is modulated by a CHRNA3 polymorphism

“…The TT/GG genotype of rs1051730/rs1317286 was associated with decreased PPI levels in both groups (Petrovsky et al 2010). Our findings from that study further support the view that the cholinergic system plays a key role in pre-attentional and attentional mechanisms (Bosch and Schmid 2008;Heishman et al 2010;Hong et al 2008). …”

Nicotine derived from the electronic cigarette improves time-based prospective memory in abstinent smokers

“…Smokers commonly believe that smoking improves attention, alertness and concentration (West, 1993) and such perceived benefits have been suggested to motivate continued smoking (Heishman et al 2010). A plethora of studies have demonstrated that smoking can improve, and deprivation impair, performance on a variety of cognitive domains including reaction time (Bates et al 1995;Giannakoulas et al 2003;Perkins et al 1995), vigilance/attention (Bell et al 1999;Gilbert et al 1997), inhibitory control (Powell et al 2001), learning (Soar et al 2008), and working memory (Jacobsen et al 2005;Merritt et al 2012).…”

Neural effects of methylphenidate and nicotine during smooth pursuit eye movements

“…Meta-analyses of healthy, non-sleep deprived human subjects have identified both compounds to increase performance in several cognitive domains (Heishman et al, 2010;Linssen et al, 2014). Although there may be ethical concerns surrounding the issue of cognitive enhancement (Hyman, 2011), it is of considerable scientific interest to further investigate the potential of biotechnological interventions to enhance human cognition.…”

“…Whilst there is consistent evidence of nicotinic enhancement of attention in animal models (Hahn et al, 2003) and neuropsychiatric disorders such as attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease (Kelton et al, 2000;Petrovsky et al, 2013;Poltavski and Petros, 2006), in healthy individuals the enhancing effects on cognitive performance are less pronounced, but confirm positive effects on alertness and attention (Heishman et al, 2010;Sacco et al, 2004).…”