Nicotine enhances automatic temporal processing as measured by the mismatch negativity waveform.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Cholinergic agonists and, more specifically, nicotine, have been found to enhance a number of cognitive processes.

The effect of nicotine on temporal processing is not known.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 20 subjects were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults and adults, both men and women.

A total of 20 subjects (11 nonsmokers and 9 smokers following 2 hr of abstinence) participated in a two-visit single-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study of the effect of nicotine on MMN indices in response to an interstimulus interval deviant.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

The subjects were allocated by chance, so the Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Only one side, usually the subjects, was kept unaware of whether Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) was given.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) could be set against what happens without it.

In the crossover set-up each of the subjects took both Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

What Was Measured

The use of behavioral measures of temporal processing to measure its effect could be confounded by the general effects of nicotine on attention.

Mismatch negativity (MMN) has been used as a physiological measure of automatic temporal processing to avoid this potential confound.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Acoustic Stimulation, Auditory Perception, Contingent Negative Variation, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Nicotine and Nicotinic Agonists.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, single-blind and placebo-controlled study of Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) in 20 subjects.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 6 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2009 (Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco), a journal based in England.

More context: the Therapeutic nicotine (patch, non-peptide) compound page, all human trials.