Effects of Nicotine and Alcohol on Affective Responses to Emotionally Toned Film Clips

Overview

Journal Psychopharmacology (Berl)

Specialty Pharmacology

Date 2011 Feb 18

PMID 21327759

Citations 8

Authors

Lynne Dawkins

Jane Powell

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Rationale: Smoking abstinence can result in decreased affective reactions to positively valenced stimuli, and this can be reversed via smoking. Given their shared ability to trigger nucleus accumbens dopamine release, a priming dose of alcohol may likewise augment positive affective responses during abstinence.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to replicate our previous finding that compared to satiation, abstinence from smoking will be associated with decreased 'happiness' responses to positively valenced film clips (Study 1) and to explore whether a priming dose of alcohol can substitute for nicotine by concomitantly enhancing such responses (Study 2). In both studies, 'sadness' responses to negatively valenced clips were also included.

Methods: Thirty-two and 77 smokers, respectively, in Studies 1 and 2 were randomly allocated to abstain from smoking for 10 h (abstinent smokers) or smoke as usual (satiated smokers). Participants then rated the extent to which they felt a list of emotions in response to each of 16 film clips. In Study 2, participants were additionally allocated to an alcohol manipulation in which they received either alcohol or placebo.

Results: In Study 1, nicotine administration increased abstinent smokers' ratings of happiness and sadness to the corresponding film clips. In Study 2, nicotine and alcohol both enhanced positive reactivity to happy clips, and their effects were not additive. Alcohol but not nicotine likewise enhanced sadness responses to sad clips.

Conclusions: Abstinence from smoking can result in blunting of affective responses to positively toned stimuli, an effect that can be ameliorated by both nicotine and alcohol. The impact of nicotine on negative reactivity appears to be less robust.

Citing Articles

The role of the SLC6A3 3' UTR VNTR in nicotine effects on cognitive, affective, and motor function.

Schroder R, Reuter M, Fassbender K, Plieger T, Poulsen J, Lui S Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2021; 239(2):489-507.

PMID: 34854936 PMC: 8638222. DOI: 10.1007/s00213-021-06028-x.

Possible New Symptoms of Tobacco Withdrawal II: Anhedonia-A Systematic Review.

Hughes J, Klemperer E, Peasley-Miklus C Nicotine Tob Res. 2019; 22(1):11-17.

PMID: 30726957 PMC: 7297016. DOI: 10.1093/ntr/nty171.

Anhedonia: Its Dynamic Relations With Craving, Negative Affect, and Treatment During a Quit Smoking Attempt.

Cook J, Lanza S, Chu W, Baker T, Piper M Nicotine Tob Res. 2017; 19(6):703-709.

PMID: 28486709 PMC: 5423098. DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntw247.

Anhedonia and Abstinence as Predictors of the Subjective Pleasantness of Positive, Negative, and Smoking-Related Pictures.

Guillot C, Halliday T, Kirkpatrick M, Pang R, Leventhal A Nicotine Tob Res. 2017; 19(6):743-749.

PMID: 28186553 PMC: 5896550. DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntx036.

The Sociopharmacology of Tobacco Addiction: Implications for Understanding Health Disparities.

Leventhal A Nicotine Tob Res. 2015; 18(2):110-21.

PMID: 25890832 PMC: 5967296. DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntv084.

References

Burton S, Tiffany S . The effect of alcohol consumption on craving to smoke. Addiction. 1997; 92(1):15-26. View

Salamone J . The involvement of nucleus accumbens dopamine in appetitive and aversive motivation. Behav Brain Res. 1994; 61(2):117-33. DOI: 10.1016/0166-4328(94)90153-8. View

Soderpalm B, Ericson M, Olausson P, BLOMQVIST O, Engel J . Nicotinic mechanisms involved in the dopamine activating and reinforcing properties of ethanol. Behav Brain Res. 2000; 113(1-2):85-96. DOI: 10.1016/s0166-4328(00)00203-5. View

Jo W, Oh J . Evaluation of CO exposure in active smokers while smoking using breath analysis technique. Chemosphere. 2003; 53(3):207-16. DOI: 10.1016/S0045-6535(03)00516-2. View

Erblich J, Montgomery G, Bovbjerg D . Script-guided imagery of social drinking induces both alcohol and cigarette craving in a sample of nicotine-dependent smokers. Addict Behav. 2008; 34(2):164-70. PMC: 2615382. DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2008.10.007. View

Volkow N, Fowler J, Wang G, Swanson J . Dopamine in drug abuse and addiction: results from imaging studies and treatment implications. Mol Psychiatry. 2004; 9(6):557-69. DOI: 10.1038/sj.mp.4001507. View

Barrett S, Tichauer M, Leyton M, Pihl R . Nicotine increases alcohol self-administration in non-dependent male smokers. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2005; 81(2):197-204. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2005.06.009. View

Altman J, Everitt B, Glautier S, Markou A, Nutt D, Oretti R . The biological, social and clinical bases of drug addiction: commentary and debate. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 1996; 125(4):285-345. DOI: 10.1007/BF02246016. View

Spanagel R . Alcoholism: a systems approach from molecular physiology to addictive behavior. Physiol Rev. 2009; 89(2):649-705. DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00013.2008. View

10.

Dawkins L, Powell J, West R, Powell J, Pickering A . A double-blind placebo controlled experimental study of nicotine: I--effects on incentive motivation. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006; 189(3):355-67. DOI: 10.1007/s00213-006-0588-8. View

11.

Di Chiara G . The role of dopamine in drug abuse viewed from the perspective of its role in motivation. Drug Alcohol Depend. 1995; 38(2):95-137. DOI: 10.1016/0376-8716(95)01118-i. View

12.

Lopez-Moreno J, Trigo-Diaz J, Rodriguez de Fonseca F, Gonzalez Cuevas G, Gomez de Heras R, Crespo Galan I . Nicotine in alcohol deprivation increases alcohol operant self-administration during reinstatement. Neuropharmacology. 2004; 47(7):1036-44. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2004.08.002. View

13.

Mintz J, Boyd G, Rose J, Charuvastra V, Jarvik M . Alcohol increases cigarette smoking: a laboratory demonstration. Addict Behav. 1985; 10(3):203-7. DOI: 10.1016/0306-4603(85)90001-2. View

14.

Dawkins L, Acaster S, Powell J . The effects of smoking and abstinence on experience of happiness and sadness in response to positively valenced, negatively valenced, and neutral film clips. Addict Behav. 2006; 32(2):425-31. DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.05.010. View

15.

Kouri E, McCarthy E, Faust A, Lukas S . Pretreatment with transdermal nicotine enhances some of ethanol's acute effects in men. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2004; 75(1):55-65. DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2004.01.011. View

16.

Spring B, Cook J, Appelhans B, Maloney A, Richmond M, Vaughn J . Nicotine effects on affective response in depression-prone smokers. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2007; 196(3):461-71. DOI: 10.1007/s00213-007-0977-7. View

17.

Palfai T, Monti P, Ostafin B, Hutchison K . Effects of nicotine deprivation on alcohol-related information processing and drinking behavior. J Abnorm Psychol. 2000; 109(1):96-105. DOI: 10.1037//0021-843x.109.1.96. View

18.

Kalamboka N, Remington B, Glautier S . Nicotine withdrawal and reward responsivity in a card-sorting task. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2009; 204(1):155-63. DOI: 10.1007/s00213-008-1449-4. View

19.

Glautier S, Clements K, White J, Taylor C, Stolerman I . Alcohol and the reward value of cigarette smoking. Behav Pharmacol. 1996; 7(2):144-154. View

20.

Powell J, Dawkins L, Davis R . Smoking, reward responsiveness, and response inhibition: tests of an incentive motivational model. Biol Psychiatry. 2002; 51(2):151-63. DOI: 10.1016/s0006-3223(01)01208-2. View