ArticlePsychopharmacology2015
Double dissociation of working memory and attentional processes in smokers and non-smokers with and without nicotine.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- Insights into Pharmacological Activities of Nicotine and 6-Hydroxy-L-nicotine, a Bacterial Nicotine Derivative: A Systematic Review.Biomolecules · 2023Pooled it
- The two-way relationship between nicotine and cortical activity: a systematic review of neurobiological and treatment aspects.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- An exploratory, randomised, crossover study to investigate the effect of nicotine on cognitive function in healthy adult smokers who use an electronic cigarette after a period of smoking abstinence.Harm reduction journal · 2024Trial
- Prefrontal TDCS does not improve working memory performance in individuals with chronic alcohol and tobacco use.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2026Article
- Report Approval for Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (RATES): expert recommendation based on a Delphi consensus study.Nature protocols · 2026Review
- Chronotype-specific associations of sleep-wake schedule with behavioral, physiological, and psychological parameters.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Article
- Tobacco deprivation impairs metacognitive accuracy and cognitive flexibility.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Memory under siege: the cognitive costs of smoking and vaping.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Review
- Article
- Review
- Electronic Cigarette Use Intentions Mediate the Association between Low Self-Control and Future Use by Internalizing Symptoms.Substance use & misuse · 2022Article
- Nicotine Facilitates Facial Stimulation-Evoked Mossy Fiber-Granule Cell Long-Term PotentiationFrontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2022Article
- Non-invasive brain stimulation and neuroenhancement.Clinical neurophysiology practice · 2022Review
- Cognitive functions and underlying parameters of human brain physiology are associated with chronotype.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Noradrenergic Enhancement of Motor Learning, Attention, and Working Memory in Humans.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Article
- Cognitive training and brain stimulation in prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD-Stim)-study protocol for a double-blind randomized controlled phase IIb (monocenter) trial.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2020Article
- Nicotine dependence (trait) and acute nicotinic stimulation (state) modulate attention but not inhibitory control: converging fMRI evidence from Go-Nogo and Flanker tasks.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Article
- The influence of nicotine metabolic rate on working memory over 6 hours of abstinence from nicotine.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2020Article
- Impact of Substance Use Disorder Pharmacotherapy on Executive Function: A Narrative Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Review
- Nicotine modulates human brain plasticity via calcium-dependent mechanisms.The Journal of physiology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Nicotine has been shown to affect cortical excitability measured using transcranial magnetic stimulation in smoking and non-smoking subjects in different ways. In tobacco-deprived smokers, administration of nicotine restores compromised cortical facilitation while in non-smokers, it enhances cortical inhibition. As cortical excitability and activity are closely linked to cognitive processes, we aimed to explore whether nicotine-induced physiological alterations in non-smokers and smokers are associated with cognitive changes. Specifically, we assessed the impact of nicotine on working memory performance (n-back letter task) and on attentional processes (Stroop interference test) in healthy smokers and non-smokers. Both tasks have been shown to rely on prefrontal areas, and nicotinic receptors are relevantly involved in prefrontal function. Sixteen smoking and 16 non-smoking subjects participated in the 3-back letter task and 21 smoking and 21 non-smoking subjects in the Stroop test after the respective application of placebo or nicotine patches. The results show that working memory and attentional processes are compromised in nicotine-deprived smokers compared to non-smoking individuals. After administration of nicotine, working memory performance in smokers improved, while non-smoking subjects displayed decreased accuracy with increased number of errors. The effects have been shown to be more apparent for working memory performance than attentional processes. In summary, cognitive functions can be restored by nicotine in deprived smokers, whereas non-smokers do not gain additional benefit. The respective changes are in accordance with related effects of nicotine on cortical excitability in both groups.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.