SMOKING, HEART-RATE AND PERSONALITY

This study examined the influence of motor activity and attentional stress on heart rate (HR), electrocortical measures (EEG) and smoking during a 6 sec foreperiod paradigm. Six introverted and 6 extraverted smokers attended for two experiments where they received: (1) a motor task consisting of a sustained (S1-R-S2) Or preparatory (S1-S2-R) movement foreperiod interval; (2) a stress test which involved discriminating between two similar tones at three levels of difficulty with motor activity controlled. HR increased significantly after smoking in extraverts in both tasks under the more demanding conditions. Introverts showed a smoking by condition effect on the EEG components but not on HR. The results suggest that the autonomic effects of smoking interact with smokers current activities.