Peer-reviewed research published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research investigating how combined smoking cues heighten craving reactivity and predict immediate smoking behavior.
Peer-reviewed research published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research (Oxford Academic, February 2019) investigating how combined smoking cues — visual, olfactory, and contextual — heighten craving reactivity and predict immediate subsequent smoking behavior.
Cue reactivity research examines how stimuli associated with drug use trigger craving and influence behavior. Most prior work studied cues in isolation — a photo, a smell, a location — but real-world environments expose smokers to multiple cues simultaneously. This study tested whether combined cue exposure produced stronger reactivity than single-modality cues, and whether that heightened reactivity predicted how quickly participants smoked afterward.
I worked on the data collection side of the study, running controlled participant sessions and collecting both self-reported craving ratings and behavioral data. A distinctive part of the protocol was the use of personalized cue materials: each participant’s session used photos of their own people and locations associated with smoking. I edited and enhanced those photos to meet the study’s visual standards while keeping them recognizable and ecologically valid for each individual participant.