Abstract
AbstractSpatial attention can be magnetically attracted by behaviorally salient stimuli. This phenomenon occasionally conflicts with behavioral goals, leading to maladaptive consequences, as in the case of addiction, in which attentional biases have been described and linked with clinically meaningful variables, such as craving level or dependence intensity. Here, we sought to probe the markers of attentional priority in smokers through eye-tracking measures, by leveraging the established link between eye movements and spatial attention. We were particularly interested in potential markers related to pupil size, because pupil diameter reflects a range of autonomic, affective, and cognitive/attentional reactions to behaviorally significant stimuli and is a robust marker of appetitive and aversive learning. We found that changes in pupil size to nicotine-related visual stimuli could reliably predict, in cross-validated logistic regression, the smoking status of young smokers (showing pupil constriction) better than more traditional proxy measures. The possibility that pupil constriction may reflect a bias toward central vision, for example, attentional capture, is discussed in terms of sensory tuning with respect to nicotine-related stimuli. Pupil size was more sensitive at lower nicotine dependence levels, and at increased abstinence time (though these two variables were collinear). We conclude that pupillometry can provide a robust marker for attentional priority computation and useful indications regarding motivational states and individual attitudes toward conditioned stimuli.
Funder
Università degli Studi di Padova
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous),Developmental and Educational Psychology,Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献