Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T13:08:49.576Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Smoking impedes executive function and related prospective memory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2014

T. M. Heffernan ,
A. Carling ,
T. S. O’Neill  and
C. Hamilton
T. M. Heffernan*
Affiliation:
Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR), Division of Psychology, Northumbria University. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
A. Carling
Affiliation:
Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR), Division of Psychology, Northumbria University. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
T. S. O’Neill
Affiliation:
Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR), Division of Psychology, Northumbria University. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
C. Hamilton
Affiliation:
Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR), Division of Psychology, Northumbria University. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr Thomas M. Heffernan, Ph.D., Collaboration for Drug and Alcohol Research (CDAR), Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective

This study assessed both executive function (EF) and prospective memory (PM) in a group of current smokers (CS) to observe whether deficits in both sets of memory processes co-existed in smokers, comparing this group with a group who had never smoked (NS).

Method

An existing-groups design was used to compare smokers with the NS group on a Reserve Digit Span Task (RDST) that measured EF and the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT) measuring PM. Age, mood, other drug use and IQ were also measured and controlled for in the study.

Results

After omitting anyone using an illegal substance and observing no between-group differences in age, gender, anxiety, depression, alcohol use and IQ, the CS group performed significantly worse on the RDST and recalled significantly fewer time-based and event-based tasks on CAMPROMPT, compared with the NS group.

Conclusions

Both EF and PM deficits were evident in the same cohort of CS when compared with a NS group, a finding which is novel in the current literature. Since both EF and PM are interrelated in that they share common resources in the brain, the finding that both sets of deficits co-existed in smokers suggests that persistent cigarette smoking impedes these underlying resources.

Keywords

CAMPROMPTexecutive functionprospective memoryRDSTsmoking
Type
Original Research
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , September 2014 , pp. 159 - 165
Copyright
© College of Psychiatrists of Ireland 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baddeley, A (2012). Working memory: theories, models, and controversies. Annual Review of Psychology 63, 1–29.Google Scholar
Bartholomew, J, Holroyd, S, Heffernan, TM (2010). Does cannabis use affect prospective memory in young adults? Journal of Psychopharmacology 24, 241–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brandimonte, M, Einstein, GO, McDaniel, MA (1996). Prospective Memory: Theory and Applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: USA.Google Scholar
Burgess, PW, Quayle, A, Frith, CD (2001). Brain regions involved in prospective memory as determined by positron emission tomography. Neuropsychologia 39, 545–555.Google Scholar
Crawford, JR, Henry, JD, Crombie, C, Taylor, EP (2001). Normative data for the HADS from a large non-clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 40, 429–434.Google Scholar
Durazzo, TC, Insel, PS, Weiner, MW (2012). Greater regional brain atrophy rate in healthy elderly subjects with a history of cigarette smoking. Alzheimer and Dementia 8, 513–519.Google Scholar
Ernst, M, Heishman, SJ, Spurgeon, L, London, ES (2001). Smoking history and nicotine effects on cognitive performance. Neuropsychopharmacology 25, 313–390.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fried, PA, Watkinson, B, Gray, R (2006). Neurocognitive consequences of cigarette smoking in young adults – a comparison with pre-drug performance. Neurotoxicology and Teratolology 28, 517–525.Google Scholar
Friedman, NP, Miyake, A, Corley, RP, Young, SE, DeFries, JC, Hewitt, JK (2006). Not all executive functions are related to intelligence. Psychological Science 17, 172–179.Google Scholar
Gallinat, J, Meisenzahl, E, Jacobsen, LK, Kalus, P, Bierbrauer, J, Kienast, T, Staedtgen, M (2006). Smoking and structural brain deficits: a volumetric MR investigation. European Journal of Neuroscience 24, 1744–1750.Google Scholar
Ghosh, D, Mishra, MK, Das, S, Kaushil, DK, Basu, A (2009). Tobacco carcinogen induces microglial activation and subsequent neuronal damage. Journal of Neurochemistry 110, 1070–1081.Google Scholar
Glass, JM, Buu, A, Adams, KM, Nigg, JT, Puttler, LI, Jester, JM (2009). Effects of alcoholism severity and smoking on executive neurocognitive function. Addiction 104, 38–48.Google Scholar
Greenstein, JE, Kassel, JD (2009). The effects of smoking and smoking abstinence on verbal and visuo-spatial working memory capacity. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 17, 78–90.Google Scholar
Heffernan, TM, Clark, R, Bartholomew, J, Ling, J, Stephens, R (2010). Does binge drinking in teenagers affect their everyday prospective memory? Drug and Alcohol Dependence 109, 73–79.Google Scholar
Heffernan, TM, O’Neill, T (2011). A comparison of social (weekend) smokers, regular (daily) smokers and a never-smoked group upon everyday prospective memory. The Open Addiction Journal 4, 72–75.Google Scholar
Heffernan, TM, O’Neill, T, Moss, M (2010). Smoking and everyday prospective memory: a comparison of self-report and objective methodologies. Drug and Alcohol Dependence 112, 234–238.Google Scholar
Heffernan, TM, O’Neill, T, Moss, M (2012). Does persistent smoking impair real world everyday prospective memory? Drug and Alcohol Dependence 120, 1–6.Google Scholar
Hill, RD, Nilsson, LG, Nyberg, L, Backman, L (2003). Cigarette smoking and cognitive performance in healthy Swedish adults. Age and Ageing 32, 548–550.Google Scholar
Jacobson, LK, Mencl, WE, Constable, RT, Westerveld, M, Pugh, KR (2007). Impact of smoking abstinence on working memory neuro-circuitry in adolescent daily tobacco smokers. Psychopharmacology 193, 557–566.Google Scholar
Jansaari, AS, Froggatt, D, Edginton, T, Dawkins, L (2012). Investigating the impact of nicotine on executive functions using a novel virtual reality assessment. Addiction 108, 977–984.Google Scholar
Kliegel, M, Jager, T, Altgassen, M, Shum, D (2008). Clinical neuropsychology of prospective memory. In Prospective Memory: Cognitive, Neuroscience, Developmental and Applied Perspectives (ed. M. Kliegel, M. A. McDaniel and G. O. Einstein), pp. 283–308. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, NJ.Google Scholar
Kliegel, M, Jäger, T, Phillips, L, Federspiel, E, Imfeld, A, Keller, M, Zimprich, D (2005). Effects of sad mood on time-based prospective memory. Cognition & Emotion 19, 1199–1213.Google Scholar
Martin, M, Kliegel, M, McDaniel, MA (2003). The involvement of executive functions in prospective memory performance of adults. International Journal of Psychology 38, 195–206.Google Scholar
McDaniel, MA, Einstein, GO (2007). Prospective Memory: An Overview and Synthesis of An Emerging Field. Sage: London.Google Scholar
McDaniel, MA, Einstein, GO (2011). The neuropsychology of prospective memory in normal aging: a componential approach. Neuropsychologia 49, 2147–2155.Google Scholar
Mitchell, RL, Phillips, LH (2007). The psychological, neurochemical and functional neuroanatomical mediators of the effects of positive and negative mood on executive functions. Neuropsychologia 45, 617–629.Google Scholar
Nelson, HE, Willison, J (1991). National Adult Reading Test (NART) Manual, 2nd edn.NFER-Nelson: Windsor, UK.Google Scholar
Nooyens, ACJ, van Gelder, BM, Verschuren, WMM (2008). Smoking and cognitive decline among middle-aged men and women: the Doetinchen cohort study. American Journal of Public Health 98, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okuda, J, Fujii, T, Ohtake, H, Tsukiura, T, Tanji, K, Suzuki, K, Kawashima, R, Fukuda, H, Itoh, M, Yamadori, A (2003). Thinking of the future and past: the roles of the frontal pole and the medial temporal lobes. Neuroimage 19, 1369–1380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Richmond, R, Zwar, N, Taylor, R, Hunnisett, J, Hyslop, F (2012). Teaching about tobacco in medical schools: a worldwide study. Drug and Alcohol Review 28, 484–497.Google Scholar
Ringlever, L, Otten, R, Van Schayck, OC, Engels, RC (2012). Early smoking in school-aged children with and without a diagnosis of asthma. European Journal of Public Health 22, 394–398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rodgers, J, Buchanan, T, Scholey, AB, Heffernan, TM, Ling, J, Parrott, AC (2011). Prospective memory: the influence of ecstasy, cannabis and nicotine use and the WWW. The Open Addiction Journal 4, 44–45.Google Scholar
Simons, JS, Scholvinck, ML, Gilbert, SJ, Frith, CD, Burgess, PW (2006). Differential components of prospective memory? Evidence from fMRI. Neuropsychologia 44, 1388–1397.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spear, LP (2013). Adolescent neurodevelopment. Journal of Adolescent Health 52, S7–S13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tait, RJ, Siru, R (2009). Executive cognitive function and cessation of smoking among older smokers. Aging and Health 5, 33–37.Google Scholar
Towse, JN, Houston-Price, CMT (2001). Reflections on the concept of the central executive. In Working Memory in Perspective (ed. J. Andrade), pp. 240–260. Psychology Press: Hove.Google Scholar
Wilson, BA, Emslie, H, Foley, J, Shiel, A, Watson, P, Hawkins, K, Groot, Y, Evans, J (2005). The Cambridge Prospective Memory Test. Harcourt-Assessment: London.Google Scholar
World Health Organisation (2009). WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2009. World Health Organisation Publications: Switzerland.Google Scholar
Zigmond, AS, Snaith, RP (1983). The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandanavica 67, 361–370.Google Scholar