Manipulation of Smoking Urges and Affect Through a Brief-Imagery Procedure: Self-Report, Psychophysiological, and Startle Probe Responses

The extent to which sentence imagery elicits effects comparable to those produced by long narratives was investigated. Smokers imagined sentences with varying affective content and that either contained or were devoid of smoking cues. Physiological responses were monitored, and smokers rated their urges and affect. Startle responses were also collected as an index of negative affect processing. Smoking-cue sentences produced augmented urges and startle responding. Smoking material also elevated negative affect during imagery of positive affect sentences. The affect manipulation produced changes in self-reported affect and facial electomyography consistent with the affective valence of the sentences. This procedure is similar to narrative imagery in the manipulation of smoking urges and affect under laboratory conditions. Results support the hypothesis that smoking urges enhance negative affect processing.