Brie Noffsinger, “Physiological and Subjective Reactions to E-Cigarette Cues: A Protocol”
Mentors: Joshua Gwon, Nursing and Han Joo Lee, Psychology
Potser #97

E-cigarettes have become increasingly popular among young adults in the past decade. The purpose of this study is to assess physiological and subjective reactions to e-cigarette cues and examine e-cigarette use patterns. The study is composed of 2 sections: the survey and cue-exposure task. For the survey, participants are asked to answer questions about demographic information, e-cigarette use, nicotine dependence, exposure to e-cigarette materials, subjective reactivity, preferences for e-cigarette cessation, psychosocial characteristics (anxiety, stress, etc.), and other substance/drug/alcohol use. The cue-exposure task consists of 3 phases: (a) the baseline phase, (b) the exposure phase, and (c) the recovery phase. Each phase lasts about 3 minutes of the participant being shown pictures of e-cigarettes or scenic nature views. During each task, we measure physiological arousal indices from the fingertip skin sensors and chest belt-type heart rate monitoring device. Participants are also asked to answer self-reported levels of distress, irritability, agitation, and urge for e-cigarette use during the task. The data collected through this study will help researchers understand how physiological and subjective reactions change between cue-exposure phases and correlations between these changes and e-cigarette use patterns.