A previous study have found that smokers who exhibited a higher overall startle response were more likely than those with lower level of startle response to quit smoking (Postma, Kumari, Sharma, Hines, & Gray, 2001), but we were unable to replicate that finding in our current study. Another study (Cinciripini et al., 2006) found that short-term (12 hours) nicotine deprivation attenuated startle responding to cigarette stimuli. However, the current results failed to show any group effects on startle modulation to cigarette slides. In fact, the current study did not find any difference in startle reactivity across the four laboratory sessions among abstainers, relapsers, and smokers who continued to smoke. Unlike Cinciripini et al. (2006), which investigated the acute effect of nicotine on startle responding among nontreatment seeking smokers, the current study examined affective reactivity among quitting smokers at time points when they had stopped smoking for a significantly longer period of time. The discrepancies in findings suggest that the startle paradigm may be sensitive to measuring the short-term nicotine deprivation, but not long-term smoking cessation effect on affect.
