Sustained Reduction of Attentional Bias to Smoking Cues by Smartphone-Delivered Attentional Bias Modification Training for Smokers

Objective: Cigarette smoking is thought to be at least partially maintained by the attentional bias (AB) toward smoking cues that develops as a consequence of drug dependence. This study evaluated the impact of smartphone-delivered, in-home attentional bias modification (ABM) to reduce AB to smoking cues and to reduce smoking behavior and withdrawal-related symptoms when used as an adjunct to conventional smoking cessation treatment. Method: Participants (N = 246) were treatment-seeking smokers who completed up to 13 days of either ABM designed to train attention away from smoking cues, using a modified dot-probe task, or sham training, followed by 8 weeks of nicotine replacement therapy and counseling. Outcomes measured at baseline, 1-day post-ABM training, and 8 weeks post-ABM training included AB to smoking images and words using the dot-probe and smoking Stroop tasks, respectively, along with cigarettes per day, craving, and smoking abstinence. Results: We found that ABM training reduced AB to smoking stimuli on both the dot-probe task, η²_p = 0.056, 90% CI [0.024, 0.097], and the smoking Stroop task, η²_p = 0.017, 90% CI [0.002, 0.044], up to 8 weeks after ABM training when covarying for baseline response, but did not concurrently decrease smoking behavior or craving. Conclusions: Thirteen days of smartphone-delivered ABM training, as an adjunct to smoking cessation treatment, reduced AB to both modality-specific and cross-modality smoking cues but did not impact smoking-related behavior. While ABM can reduce AB to smoking cues across modalities, it is unclear whether it has therapeutic potential as an adjunct to conventional smoking cessation therapy.