Abstract
Eysenck's hypothesis that nicotine reduces emotional reactions by reducing cortical arousal and Gilbert's alternative hypothesis that this effect of nicotine occurs because of its tendency to increase perceptual thresholds and/or its tendency to reduce muscular tension were tested by having 48 habitual smokers smoke either high (1.3 mg) or low (0.2 mg) nicotine cigarettes just prior to viewing a series of videotaped emotion-producing scenes. Consistent with predictions, the skin conductance response magnitudes of the subjects who smoked the high-nicotine cigarettes were significantly smaller than were those of subjects who smoked low-nicotine cigarettes. On the other hand, contrary to predictions, there was no significant interaction between extraversion and nicotine for skin conductance or self-report responses. On Day 2, but not Day 1, nicotine reduced self-reports of perceived muscular tension and startle but did not cause a perception of increased heart activity in spite of an actual significant increase in heart rate.
Published Version
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