The effects of psychological stress on approach tendencies for smoking-related cues in smokers.

Stress may potentiate the chronification of nicotine addiction, but the exact mechanisms remain elusive. We performed an explorative pilot study examining the effects of psychological stress, administered via the socially evaluated cold pressor task (SECPT), on implicit approach bias for smoking-related cues in smokers in the approach-avoidance task (AAT). Smokers (N = 24) were subjected to the stress or control condition of the SECPT by using a within-subject design.