Smoking, anxiety, and attention: Support for the role of nicotine in attentionally mediated anxiolysis

Based on J. D. Kassel and S. Shiffman's (1997) study, the hypothesis was tested that cigarette smoking's anxiolytic effects are attentionally mediated and depend on the presence of benign distraction. This study explored whether the attentionally mediated anxiolytic effects of smoking observed in the J. D. Kassel and S. Shiffman (1997) study could be replicated and are attributable to nicotine. The study examined the effect on anxiety of smoking a high- or low-yield nicotine cigarette with or without a current distraction in 67 smokers. As predicted, only those who smoked a high-yield cigarette paired with participation in a distracting activity experienced a significant reduction in anxiety. Those who smoked a high-yield cigarette in the absence of distraction experienced a slight exacerbation of anxiety. These findings suggest that nicotine-not the behavioral or sensory aspects of smoking-interacts with distraction and leads to alleviation of anxiety.