Effects of 7.5% carbon dioxide inhalation on anxiety and mood in cigarette smokers

Cigarette smoking is associated with elevated risk of anxiety and mood disorder. Using the 7.5% carbon dioxide (CO(2)) inhalation model of anxiety induction, we examined the effects of smoking status and abstinence from smoking on anxiety responses. Physiological and subjective responses to CO(2) and medical air were compared in smokers and non-smokers (Experiment One) and in overnight abstinent and non-abstinent smokers (Experiment Two). CO(2) induced greater increases in blood pressure in non-smokers compared with smokers (ps < 0.043), and greater increases in anxiety (p = 0.005) and negative affect (p = 0.054) in non-abstinent compared with abstinent smokers. CO(2) increased physiological and subjective indices of anxiety. There were differences across smoking groups indicating that the CO(2) inhalation model is a useful tool for examining the relationship between smoking and anxiety. The findings suggested that both acute smoking and acute abstinence may protect against anxious responding. Further investigation is needed in long-term heavy smokers

For the love of the game:Implicit arousal following symbolic destruction of sports teams and partners

Abstract The belief that damaging an object may harm the individual to which the object relates is common among adults. We explored whether arousal following the destruction of a photograph of a loved partner is greater than that following the destruction of a photograph of a stranger, and whether this response is greater than when a photograph representing a non-person sentimental attachment is destroyed, using a measure of skin conductance response. Long-term supporters of a football team, who were also in a long-term relationship, showed increased arousal when asked to destroy a photograph of their partner, but not a photograph of their team, even though both elicited equivalent ratings of emotional attachment. This may be because football teams are conceptualized differently from individuals. Future studies should address whether destruction of symbols that represent the enduring nature of the team elicit more emotional distress than photograph. </jats:sec

Methodological considerations in cognitive bias research: the next steps

Field and Christiansen (2012) comment on the importance of establishing and understanding the internal reliability of measures of substance-related cognitive bias, and suggest potential reasons for the poor reliability of some task variants. We agree that the impact of using stimuli personalized to the participant on the reliability of cognitive bias tasks is worthy of systematic investigation. However, some tasks may still be inherently less reliable than others. Ultimately, this debate should be framed within the wider debate on the validity of laboratory models and methods used to assess real-world phenomena

Internal reliability of measures of substance-related cognitive bias

Aims There is growing interest in cognitive biases related to substance use, but evidence from the anxiety literature suggests that tasks commonly used to assess these may suffer from low internal reliability. We examined the internal reliability of the visual probe and modified Stroop tasks. Design Secondary analysis of visual probe and modified Stroop task data collected across seven independent studies. Setting Human laboratory study. Participants Healthy volunteers (n = 408 across seven independent studies) recruited from the general population on the basis of alcohol or tobacco use. Measurements Visual probe and modified Stroop task measures of substance-related cognitive bias. Findings Measures of cognitive bias for substance-related cues, as assayed by the visual probe and the modified Stroop tasks, may not be reliable. In particular, the visual probe task showed poor internal reliability, as did unblocked versions of the modified Stroop task. Conclusions The modified Stroop task is preferable to the visual probe task as a measure of substance-related cognitive bias, on the basis of its psychometric properties. Studies using cognitive bias tasks should not assume they are reliable, and should routinely report reliability estimates where possible