Nicotine improves memory for delayed intentions

Abstract

RATIONALE: The present paper asked first whether the cholinergic agonist nicotine improves memory for delayed intentions (prospective memory, ProM) and second whether pharmacological dissociation would support the psychological distinction that is made between strategic (effortful) and automatic (non-effortful) intention activation in prospective memory. OBJECTIVES: To use nicotine as a pharmacological tool with which to examine the neurochemical bases of prospective memory and to dissociate strategic from automatic components of ProM retrieval. METHODS: In three experiments, minimally deprived (2 h) smokers either smoked or abstained prior to completing a standard prospective memory study. ..