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NEWS: Waiting out addiction

phase_dancer

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FRONTLINE | WAITING OUT ADDICTION


Recent research shows that for smokers who are trying to quit, the day seems to pass slowly. Pennsylvania State University researchers found that time perception was impaired for these people, suggesting both a decrease in performance and an increase in discomfort for abstainers.1

Nonpuffers and daily smokers, who went 24 hours without inhaling, were asked to estimate how much time had elapsed during a 45-second span. To the abstaining smokers, time seemed to slow down without nicotine; they perceived the interval to be about 50% longer. Study codirector Laura Cousino Klein, assistant professor of biobehavioral health, says that she cannot speculate on the mechanism responsible, although "time estimation is a very acute behavioral index of stress." Immune messengers such as cytokines could be related to the passage of time. "When people are sick, time slows down; we think ... [time perception during illness] may be related to this pathway too," Klein says.

This study follows another in which Klein examined the effects of the psychoactive drug caffeine on the per- ception of time. She found that time estimation was nearly perfect for moderate drinkers, who drank the equivalent of one or two 8-ounce cups of coffee, but that time went by more slowly for those who drank more, and also for those who drank no caffeine. Just pity the poor person who is trying to cut out both nicotine and caffeine.

--Hal Cohen

1. L.C. Klein et al., "Smoking abstinence impairs time estimation accuracy in cigarette smokers," Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 37:90-5, Winter 2003.

Found here: The Scientist [you may have to register (free) to access, p_d ]
 
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