THE EFFECTS OF CIGARETTE SMOKING ON THE RESPONSE TO STRESS IN A DRIVING SIMULATOR

DETAILS ARE GIVEN OF EXPERIMENTS IN WHICH SOME BEHAVIORAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF CIGARETTE SMOKERS AND NON-SMOKERS EXPOSED TO VARYING DEGREES OF STRESS IN A DRIVING SIMULATOR WERE COMPARED. IT WAS FOUND THAT, WHEN THE SMOKERS WERE SMOKING A CIGARETTE, SOME OF THEIR REACTION TIMES TO LIGHT SIGNALS DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY FROM THOSE OF NON-SMOKERS, SOME BEING LONGER AND SOME SHORTER. THESE DIFFERENCES DISAPPEARED WHEN THE SMOKERS WERE NOT SMOKING. OF THE PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS, ONLY HEART RATE DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY BETWEEN SMOKERS AND NON-SMOKERS, BEING HIGHER AT ALL LEVELS OF STRESS IN THE SMOKERS. THERE WERE NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN BLOOD PRESSURE, CALF BLOOD FLOW AND RESPIRATION RATE BETWEEN SMOKERS AND NON-SMOKERS. THE RESULTS OF THE CATTELL SIXTEEN PERSONALITY FACTOR QUESTIONNAIRE SHOWED THAT THE SMOKERS WERE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EXTROVERTED AND SELF-RELIANT THAN THE NON-SMOKERS. THE RESULTS ARE DISCUSSED IN RELATION TO THE PHARMACOLOGY OF CIGARETTE SMOKING. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT THE DIFFERENCES IN REACTION TIMES AND HEART RATES BETWEEN SMOKERS AND NON-SMOKERS WERE A CONSEQUENCE OF CIGARETTE SMOKING. /TRRL/

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  ,   United States 
• Authors:
  • Ashton, H
  • Savage, R D
  • Telford, R
  • Thompson, J W
  • Watson, D W
• Publication Date: 1972-7

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 546-56
• Serial:
  • British Journal of Pharmacology
  • Volume: 45
  • Issue Number: 3
  • Publisher: Macmillan Press Limited
  • ISSN: 0007-1188

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Behavior; Blood pressure; Drivers; Driving simulators; Drunk driving; Emergency response time; Physiological aspects; Reaction time; Stresses; Tobacco smoke
• Old TRIS Terms: Stress conditions
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00222505
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 31 2003 12:00AM