Stimulus intensity control and the cortical evoked response in smokers and non-smokers.

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn order to examine the relationship between stimulus intensity control and tobacco smoking motivation, the cortical averaged evoked response (AER) to a number of flash intensities was studied in 10 non‐smokers (NS), 10 tobacco deprived smokers (DS), and 10 non‐deprived smokers (NDS). AERs to four flash intensities were recorded from the vertex (Cz) of subjects and in addition to latency and amplitude measures, the slope of the regression of amplitude with log flash intensity was obtained. Statistical analysis (employing a .05 rejection region) revealed that DS evidenced faster latencies and larger amplitudes than both NS and NDS groups who exhibited comparable responsiveness. No significant results were obtained with the slope measure. The data indicates that tobacco smoking has a “normalizing” effect on central nervous system (CNS) hyper‐sensitivity observed in DS and this notion is discussed in relation to comparable physiological and behavioral work on humans and animals.