Does cigarette smoking relieve stress? Evidence from the event-related potential (ERP)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2015.10.005Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • In the neutral state, cigarette smoking decreased the LPP and the subjective anxiety.

  • In the unpleasant state, smoking decreased the LPP at a faster rate than non-smoking.

  • Cigarette smoking decreases the arousal level and perhaps the stress level.

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have reported a paradox that cigarette smoking reduces stress psychologically; however, it increases the arousal level physiologically. To examine this issue, our study aimed to investigate whether cigarette smoking relieves stress by measuring the late positive potential (LPP), a component of the event-related potential (ERP). In Experiment 1, participants first watched emotionally neutral images; second, they received a break; and finally, they watched emotionally neutral images again. In the break, they smoked a cigarette (smoking condition) or simply rested without smoking (non-smoking condition). The procedure of Experiment 2 was the same as that of Experiment 1, except that the participants watched unpleasant images as stress stimuli before the break. In Experiment 1, the LPP decreased from before to after the break in the smoking condition, but not in the non-smoking condition, suggesting that smoking cigarettes in the neutral state reduces the arousal level. In Experiment 2, the LPP for 400–600 ms decreased from before to after the break, both in the smoking and non-smoking conditions; however, the LPP for 200–400 ms decreased from before to after the break only in the smoking condition. This suggests the possibility that cigarette smoking in the unpleasant state may facilitate a decrease in the arousal level faster than with non-smoking. In both Experiments 1 and 2, the subjective rating results also suggested that cigarette smoking decreased anxiety. Taken together, both the physiological (LPP) and the psychological responses from our study suggest that cigarette smoking perhaps relieves stress.

Abbreviations

LPP
late positive potential
ERP
event-related potential
EEG
electroencephalogram
POMS
Profile of Mood States
EOG
electrooculography
ANOVA
analysis of variance

Keywords

Cigarette smoking
Late positive potential
Event-related potentials
Arousal
Stress

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