Effect of Smoking-Related Visual and Auditory Stimuli on Attention Bias in Young People Who Smoke

Abstract

Attentional bias is the tendency to prioritize the process of detecting and processing certain stimuli that are crucial to the organism. It is known that people who smoke develop a bias towards smoking-related cues, and these cues are effective in cases of relapse and craving. For this reason, the aim of the study is to examine the attention processes of young people who smoke and non-smoke and whether a potential attention bias may exist. In this context, data was collected from 70 university students between the ages of 18 and 25 who made up the sample of the study using various tools. The responses of the participants, the number of correct responses and reaction times for correct response, 2 (Group: Smokers and Non-smokers) x 2 (Stimulus Relationship Status: Unrelated to Smoking, Related to Smoking) x 2 (Stimulus Type: Visual, Auditory) were analyzed by two-factor repeated measures ANOVA. According to the results, smokers responded more accurately when faced with smoking-related stimuli than non-smokers, and their response time was shorter. However, when they faced with stimuli that unrelated to smoking, on the contrary, they gave fewer correct responses than non-smokers and their response time was longer.

Keywords

• attention
• attentional bias
• smoking
• visual-auditory-stimuli