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Introduction The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other organizations have produced and disseminated public health campaigns designed to deter youth from vaping. Yet it is unknown how these campaigns affect adult smokers exposed to these messages with respect to their perceptions of e-cigarettes and their motivation to use these products to reduce or quit smoking. Aims and Methods A controlled experimental design was used to investigate the effects of an FDA-distributed youth-targeted anti-vaping public service announcement (PSA), "Vaping is an Epidemic," upon adult smokers. We randomized 161 daily smokers to view either the FDA PSA or a matched video absent of e-cigarette content, and we hypothesized that the PSA would impact variables related to harm reduction usage of e-cigarettes, including cognitive expectancies, perceived harm, smoking cessation effectiveness, and reported likelihood of switching from smoking to vaping. Results The PSA produced increases in both health risk and potency expectancies. Viewing the PSA compared to the control video resulted in overall more negative expectancies about e-cigarettes and all other variables related to harm reduction usage. Those who viewed the PSA rated e-cigarettes as more harmful (p  < .001) and less effective for smoking cessation (p  < .01), and they reported lower switching motivation (p  < .001). Conclusions Findings indicated that adult smokers who viewed the PSA were less likely to consider e-cigarettes for smoking cessation, thus reducing acceptance of a potential cessation aid with growing empirical support. Sensationalized youth-oriented anti-vaping messages may have unintended public health consequences upon adult audiences. Implications This study is the first controlled experiment examining the effects of youth-oriented anti-vaping PSAs upon adult smokers' cognitive expectancies and beliefs about e-cigarettes. Exposure to the PSA resulted in overall more negative expectancies about e-cigarettes, as well as increased perceived harmfulness and reduced effectiveness of e-cigarettes for smoking cessation. Findings showed that these PSAs could deter adult smokers from the utilization of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation or harm reduction strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Augmented reality (AR) is a rapidly developing technology that has substantial potential as a novel approach for addiction treatment, including tobacco use. AR can facilitate the delivery of cue exposure therapy (CET) such that individuals can experience the treatment in their natural environments as viewed via a smartphone screen, addressing the limited generalizbility of extinction learning. Previously, our team developed a basic AR app for smoking cessation and demonstrated the necessary mechanisms for CET. Specifically, we showed that the AR smoking cues, compared to neutral cues, elicited substantial cue reactivity (i.e. increased urge) and that repeated exposure to the AR smoking cues reduced urge (i.e. extinction) in a laboratory setting. Here we report the next step in the systematic development of the AR app, in which we assessed the usability and acceptability of the app among daily smokers in their natural environments. Daily smokers (N = 23, 78.3% female, Mean Age = 43.4, Mean Cigarettes/Day = 14.9), not actively quitting, were instructed to use the AR app in locations and situations where they smoke (e.g. home, bar) at least 5 times per day over one week. The study is registered in clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04101422). Results indicated high usability and acceptability. Most of the participants (73.9%) used the AR app on at least 5 days. Participants found the AR cues realistic and well-integrated in their natural environments. The AR app was perceived as easy to use (Mean = 4.1/5) and learn (mean of 2 days to learn). Overall satisfaction with the app was also high. Secondary analyses found that 56.5% reported reduced smoking, with an average 26% reduction in cigarettes per day at follow-up. These findings set the stage for a randomized controlled trial testing the AR app as an adjuvant therapy for treating tobacco dependence, with potential applicability to other substances. This study found that the augmented reality (AR) smartphone application that utlized cue exposure treatment for smoking cessation was perceived as easy to use and learn in the natural, day-to-day environment of daily smokers. Findings set the stage for a larger clinical trial testing the AR app as an adjuvant therapy for treating tobacco dependence, with potential applicability to other addictive behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cue exposure for extinguishing conditioned urges to smoking cues has been promising in the laboratory, but difficult to implement in natural environments. The recent availability of augmented reality (AR) via smartphone provides an opportunity to overcome this limitation. Testing the ability of AR to elicit cue-provoked urges to smoke (ie, cue reactivity [CR]) is the first step to systemically testing the efficacy of AR for cue exposure therapy.Objectives: To test CR to smoking-related AR cues compared to neutral AR cues, and compared to in vivo cues.Methods: A 2 × 2 within-subject design comparing cue content (smoking vs. neutral) and presentation modality (AR vs. in vivo) on urge response. Seventeen smokers viewed six smoking-related and six neutral cues via AR smartphone app and also six smoking and six neutral in vivo cues. Participants rated their urge to smoke and reality/co-existence of the cue.Results: Average urge to smoke was higher following smoking-related AR images (Median = 7.50) than neutral images (Median = 3.33) (Z = -3.44; p = .001; d = 1.37). Similarly, average urge ratings for in vivo smoking-related cues (Median = 8.12) were higher than for neutral cues (Median = 2.12) (Z = -3.44; p = .001; d = 1.64). Also, greater CR was observed for in vivo cues than for AR cues (Z = -2.67, p = .008; d = .36). AR cues were generally perceived as being realistic and well-integrated.Conclusions: CR was demonstrated with very large effect sizes in response to AR smoking cues, although slightly smaller than with in vivo smoking cues. This satisfies the first criterion for the potential use of AR for exposure therapy.Implications: This study introduces AR as a novel modality for presenting smoking-related stimuli to provoke cue reactivity, and ultimately to conduct extinction-based therapy. AR cues presented via a smartphone have the advantage over other modes of cue presentation (pictures, virtual reality, in vivo, etc.) of being easily transportable, affordable, and realistic, and they can be inserted in a smokers' natural environment rather than being limited to laboratory and clinic settings. These AR features may overcome the generalizability barriers of other methods, thus increasing clinical utility for cue exposure therapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frustration stress, typically operationalized as the unexpected loss of reinforcement, has been shown to engender substance use. Abrupt reductions in reinforcer magnitude likely also function as frustration stressors. These negative incentive shifts were previously shown to produce tap- and sweetened-water drinking in rats. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether these shifts in food reward would occasion oral ethanol self-administration. Nine male Long-Evans rats operated on a two-component multiple fixed-ratio schedule with signaled components producing either a large (4 pellets) or small (1pellet) reinforcer. Components were pseudorandomly arranged to present 4 transitions between past and upcoming reinforcer magnitudes: small-to-large, small-to-small, large-to-large, and large-to-small (negative incentive shift). Experiment 1 investigated the effects of negative incentive shifts on consumption of concurrent, freely available 10% sucrose, 10% sucrose plus 10% ethanol, and following sucrose fading, 10% ethanol. Experiment 2 entailed continuation of schedule contingencies with a dose manipulation of 4 ethanol concentrations (0, 5, 10, and 20%) to assess dose-dependent differences in transition-type control and consumption. A lever-press extinction condition was then conducted with 10% ethanol availability. In this novel model of frustration stress, negative incentive shifts prompted ethanol self-administration at each dose investigated, whereas the other transitions did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of signaled transitions from relatively rich to lean conditions of food reinforcement on drinking concurrently available water or sucrose-sweetened water in rats. Past research demonstrated that these negative incentive shifts produce behavioral disruption in the form of extended pausing on fixed-ratio schedules. Four male Long-Evans rats operated on a two-component multiple fixed-ratio fixed-ratio schedule. In one manipulation, the ratio was held constant and the components arranged either a large six-pellet reinforcer (rich) or small one-pellet reinforcer (lean). In a second manipulation, the components both produced a one-pellet reinforcer but differed in terms of the ratio requirement, with the rich and lean conditions corresponding to relatively small and large ratios. In both manipulations, components were pseudorandomly presented to arrange four transitions signaled by retractable levers: lean-to-lean, lean-to-rich, rich-to-rich, and rich-to-lean (the negative incentive shift). During experimental conditions, a bottle with lickometer was inserted in the chamber, providing concurrent access either to tap water or a 10% sucrose solution. The negative incentive shift produced considerably more drinking than the other transitions in all rats during both manipulations. The level of drinking was not polydipsic; rather, it appears that the negative incentive shift enhanced the value of concurrently available reinforcers relative to food reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]