Nicotine's Effect Upon the Eye Movements Associated with Reading Comprehension
Abstract
Nicotine ingestion has been shown to have a significant effect on many cognitive functions and induces nystagmus in some subjects. This experiment was conduced to evaluate how nicotine affects reading comprehension and the eye movements associated with reading in nicotine-deprived smokers. The Visagraph instrument was used to monitor subjects' fixations, regressions, basic visual motor skills, and comprehension levels while reading standardized passages of text. Thirty subjects were measured in a double blind, treatment order-randomized, repeated-measure format, using nicotine gum and a placebo product. Subjects were divided into three groups based upon their smoking histories and experimental nicotine dose. Reading performance indicators with and without nicotine exposure were analyzed with an analysis of variance. There was not a significant effect of nicotine upon reading-associated oculomotor behavior. However, there was a significant negative effect upon reading comprehension as measured by the Visagraph system. Subjects achieved significantly lower reading comprehension scores after nicotine treatments than with placebo treatments. Neither the smoking history of the subject nor dose of nicotine significantly affected experimental outcome.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 30, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA414101
Entities
People
- Laura E. Barnes
Organizations
- University of Missouri