In the present study, we used a multimodal measurement battery, including retrospective self-report, current self-report, and psychophysiology, to address important questions concerning the relationship between nicotine dependence, nicotine withdrawal, craving, and negative affect. Retrospective questionnaires were included to provide baseline and presession measures of negative affect and craving and to facilitate comparison with previous research. Current in-session ratings during the viewing of affective and smoking-related slides were used to obtain immediate ratings about brief and subtle changes in motivational predisposition that are less subject to recall bias. We measured electromyography (EMG) from the corrugator supercillii, a muscle located on the brow that is associated with frowning, which produces greater activation to unpleasant compared to pleasant or neutral slides (Robinson, Cinciripini, Carter, Lam, & Wetter, 2007; Witvliet & Vrana, 1995). A psychophysiological index of affect, such as corrugator EMG, is immediate, sensitive to subtle motivational changes (Cacioppo, Petty, Losch, & Kim, 1986), and less subject to cognitively mediated biases inherent to self-report measures.
