Chunk #10 — 2 Brain Function Responses to Acute Nicotine Administration and Cigarette Smoking — 2.2 Effect of Nicotine on Brain Activation During Cognitive Tasks
There is evidence that nicotine administration improves performance on tasks that require vigilant attention in nicotine-dependent smokers (Newhouse et al. 2004). Nicotine administration also has been reported to improve reaction time, regardless of smoking status (Ernst et al. 2001a). Consistent with these findings are studies that demonstrate that acute abstinence from smoking (within 12 h) results in slowed response times (Bell et al. 1999; Gross et al. 1993; Thompson et al. 2002).
