About “Smoking and Emotions”

Approximately 200 participants who completed the Health Habits portion of the study also took part in the Smoking and Emotions project in the past five years.  These participants were asked to help us learn about the physical effects of emotions and smoking on the body. They viewed a series of pleasant (someone laughing, for example) and unpleasant (such as a snake) pictures while the research team measured their emotional and physical responses by monitoring heart rate and skin conductance. Participants who were regular smokers were allowed to smoke a cigarette before they viewed the pictures. Non-smoking participants were not allowed to smoke. We were interested in finding out how the emotional and physical reactions to the pictures varied for both nonsmokers and smokers.

In the current study, we will invite up to 100 existing study participants to take part in this project. Some people who participated in Smoking & Emotions in the past will be asked again, but we will also invite participants who did not complete this part of the study in the past. The study will be very similar to the past project with a few added study components (for example, a memory test). There are two study appointments, approximately two weeks apart.

STUDY RESULTS: We plan to post results here in the future.