Smokers show increased fear responses towards safety signals during fear generalization, independent from acute smoking.

ABSTRACT: Smoking is highly prevalent among patients with anxiety disorders. Previous studies suggest that smokers show altered fear learning as compared to non-smokers. To test the effect of acute smoking on fear learning and generalization, we conducted a fear learning experiment online. 202 healthy subjects learned to differentiate a danger and a safe cue on day 1 and were tested for generalization of threat responses 24 h later. To see if the timing of smoking impacts fear learning, we formed three smoker groups with manipulations of acute smoking and withdrawal at different time-points (each group: n = 46) and one non-smoker control group (n = 64). Smoking manipulations contained a 6 h withdrawal after fear learning, smoking directly before or after fear learning. We found no group differences

SUBMITTER: Mueller M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9130119 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature