Modeling the Effects of Nicotine on a Continuous Performance Task

Abstract We have developed a neurocomputational model of some attentional effects of nicotine. Our simulations reproduce results showing smoking abstinence to impair performance on a rapid visual information processing task involving detecting sequences of even or odd digits. Our model treats presence of nicotine as enhancement of modulatory acetylcholine signals, which focus attention on task-relevant stimuli. Our network includes cholinergic signals from nucleus basalis; working memory representations in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; inputs to nucleus basalis from entorhinal cortex; and recency signals. Digits are represented at entorhinal, nucleus basalis, and dorsolateral levels, along with dorsolateral representations of the concepts “even” and “odd.”

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