Context-dependency of cue-elicited urge to smoke

• Published in: Addiction (Abingdon, England) Vol. 100; no. 3; pp. 387 - 396
• Main Authors: Thewissen, Roy, Van Den Hout, Marcel, Havermans, Remco C., Jansen, Anita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.03.2005; Blackwell; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Availability; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Conditioning; Conditioning, Classical; Context; Craving; Cue exposure; Cues; expectancy; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Motivation; Netherlands; Psychoanalysis; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Smoking; Smoking - psychology; smoking availability; Smoking Prevention; urge to smoke; Context; Drug addiction; Addiction; cue exposure; smoking availability; urge to smoke; expectancy; Conditioning
• ISSN: 0965-2140; 1360-0443
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.00996.x

ABSTRACT Aims  Earlier studies have suggested that the cue‐induced urge to smoke depends on the expectation of the availability of smoking. The present study investigated whether a ‘room context’ change could undo the learned discrimination between two stimuli, respectively, predicting smoking availability or smoking unavailability. Design  A 2 (smoking cue) × 2 (availability context cue) × 6 (trial) × 2 (room context change) within‐subjects design was used. Participants were repeatedly presented with a context cue predicting smoking availability (blue serving tray) and a context cue predicting unavailability (yellow serving tray) in one room and tested for an effect of context change in a different room. Setting  Two distinct rooms located in different department buildings of Maastricht University. Participants  Seventeen daily smokers who had smoked at least five cigarettes a day for at least 2 years. Measurements  Self‐reported urge to smoke using a visual analogue scale (VAS). Findings and conclusions  Results replicated the finding that a context cue that predicted smoking elicited greater urges to smoke than a context cue that predicted no smoking, irrespective of the presence of smoking cues. In addition, this study showed that this differential effect on the urge to smoke was generalized to a context other than the context in which learning took place. These findings are discussed in relation to the significance of a context change regarding the predictive value of smoking availability.