The effect of tobacco abstinence on recognition memory, digit span recall, and attentional vigilance.

This article examines the effects of tobacco abstinence on recognition memory, digit span recall, and visual attentional vigilance. The results demonstrated that abstinence impaired recognition memory discrimination (ad libitum d .85, abstinent d .64), recognition memory hit rates (ad libitum .60, abstinent .54), accuracy of target detection in attentional vigilance (ad libitum .99, abstinent .97), and speed of target detection in attentional vigilance (ad libitum 662 ms, abstinent 687 ms). Abstinence did not impair digit span recall (ad libitum .55, abstinent .56). These results are consistent with the hypotheses that tobacco abstinence impairs episodic memory and sustained attention. They also suggest that some, but not necessarily all, short-term memory processes may not be influenced by tobacco abstinence.