Diverging effects of nicotine on motor learning performance: Improvement in deprived smokers and attenuation in non-smokers |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August University Medical Center Göttingen, Robert-Koch Str. 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany;2. Leibniz Research Center for Working Environment and Human Factors, Dortmund, Germany;3. Department of Neurology, BG University Hospital Bergmannsheil, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.;1. Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, TX, United States;2. Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States;3. Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, United States;1. Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center, 1051 Riverside Drive, Box 123, New York, NY 10032, USA;2. New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, Box 123, New York, NY 10032, USA;3. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, 722 W. 168th St, New York, NY 10032, USA;4. Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 39 Broadway, Suite 530, New York, NY 10006, USA;1. Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Straße 25, 53127 Bonn, Germany;2. Department of Neuropathology, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Straße 25, 53127 Bonn, Germany;3. Department of Nuclear Medicine, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Straße 25, 53127 Bonn, Germany;1. University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare, 1545 Lilac Lane, Lawrence, KS 66045, United States;2. The Ohio State University, College of Social Work, 1947 College Road, Columbus, OH 43210, United States |
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| Abstract: | Nicotine modulates cognition and neuroplasticity in smokers and non-smokers. A possible mechanism for its effect on learning and memory performance is its impact on long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). As neuroplasticity is closely connected to learning processes, we aimed to explore the effect of nicotine in healthy, young smokers and non-smokers on performance of the serial reaction time task (SRTT), a sequential motor learning paradigm. 20 nicotine-deprived smokers and 20 non-smokers participated in the study and were exposed to nicotine or placebo medication. Deprived smokers under placebo medication displayed reduced performance in terms of reaction time and error rates compared to the non-smoking group. After application of nicotine, performance in smokers improved while it deteriorated in non-smokers. These results indicate a restituting effect of nicotine in smokers in terms of cognitive parameters. This sheds further light on the proposed mechanism of nicotine on learning processes, which might be linked to the addictive component of nicotine, the probability of relapse and thus needs also be addressed in cessation treatment. |
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