Processing bias for terror-related stimuli and September 11th-related distress in college students.

The psychological sequelae of the September 11th terrorist attacks were examined in 249 college students at three sites in the USA and one site in the UK in the year following the attacks. Participants completed questionnaires tapping 9/ 11-related exposure and distress, and completed a modified Stroop task assessing time to color-name cards containing terror-related and neutral words. Geographical location and amount of exposure to the attacks were significant predictors of self-reported 9/11-related distress, but were not associated with processing bias for terror-related stimuli.

The effects of alcohol on cigarette craving in heavy smokers and tobacco chippers.

The authors examined the effects of alcohol consumption on cigarette craving in heavy smokers and tobacco chippers (n = 138) who were instructed not to smoke for 12 hr. Participants were exposed to both smoking cues (a lit cigarette) and control cues. Half received a moderate dose of alcohol, adjusted for gender, and half received a placebo.

Effects of smoking opportunity on cue-elicited urge: a facial coding analysis.

The authors analyzed smokers' facial expressions using the Facial Action Coding System (P. Ekman & W. V.

BRIEF REPORT.

The emotional Stroop task has been widely used to examine attentional bias in a variety of psychological disorders. In one format of this task, words are presented to participants in a mixed randomised or quasi-randomised sequence. We present data from two independent studies involving smokers, the results of which show that words appearing after smoking-related items in the mixed sequence are responded to more slowly than words appearing after neutral items.

Effects of nicotine deprivation on craving response covariation in smokers.

Most models of craving propose that when cravings are strong, diverse responses--thought to index an underlying craving state--covary. Previous studies provided weak support for this hypothesis. The authors tested whether nicotine deprivation affects degree of covariation across multiple measures related to craving.