The Role of Cognitive Control in the Self-Regulation and Reinforcement of Smoking Behavior.

Cognitive control (CC) - the ability to regulate attention and memory - plays an important role in a variety of health behaviors, including smoking behavior. In this theoretical review of the literature, we propose a CC and smoking behavior framework that includes 1) the positive influence of CC on the self-regulation of smoking; 2) nicotine-induced improvements in CC that may indirectly reinforce smoking (including withdrawal reversal effects); and 3) the long-term effects of smoking on the brain that may result in reduced CC. Integration of these literatures suggests that CC contributes to both self-regulation (i.e., brake pedal) and nicotine-related reinforcement (i.e., gas pedal) amid the catastrophic effects of long-term smoking, which may reduce self-regulatory control over smoking while also enhancing indirect reinforcement. Supportive evidence and limitations of this approach will be presented, as well as ideas for future research directions that may more fully examine this multifaceted modeling of CC in relation to smoking behavior.