Visual cue-specific craving is diminished in stressed smokers.

Background: Craving among smokers is increased by stress and exposure to smoking-related visual cues. However, few experimental studies have tested both elicitors concurrently and considered how exposures may interact to influence craving.

Objective: The current study examined craving in response to stress and visual cue exposure, separately and in succession, in order to better understand the relationship between craving elicitation and the elicitor.

Method: Thirty-nine smokers (21 males) who forwent smoking for 30 minutes were randomized to complete a stress task and a visual cue task in counterbalanced orders (creating the experimental groups); for the cue task, counterbalanced blocks of neutral, motivational control, and smoking images were presented. Self-reported craving was assessed after each block of visual stimuli and stress task, and after a recovery period following each task.

Results: As expected, the stress and smoking images generated greater craving than neutral or motivational control images (p < .001). Interactions indicated craving in those who completed the stress task first differed from those who completed the visual cues task first (p < .05), such that stress task craving was greater than all image type craving (all p's < .05) only if the visual cue task was completed first. Conversely, craving was stable across image types when the stress task was completed first.

Conclusions: Findings indicate when smokers are stressed, visual cues have little additive effect on craving, and different types of visual cues elicit comparable craving. These findings may imply that once stressed, smokers will crave cigarettes comparably notwithstanding whether they are exposed to smoking image cues.