Study Says Smoking Gives Short-Term Memory a Lift

Cigarette smoking sharpens short-term learning and memory among young people, but the slight improvement comes at a high risk of heart disease, cancer and a shortened life span, researchers say.

The finding’s real value may lie in providing clues about how to treat nicotine addiction, the researchers said Tuesday.

In an effort to pinpoint the precise effects on the brain of nicotine from cigarettes, researchers at UC San Diego tested young smokers and nonsmokers at a word game that required rapid memory and quick recall.

Both groups of 12 had electrodes attached to their heads that recorded brain waves while the word game was under way.

“It is clear that there was a lot more processing going on in the brains of smokers, when compared to nonsmokers,” said Jaime Pineda, lead author of a study presented Tuesday at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. “A smoker’s brain is busier at the memory task than were the others.”

Smokers were quicker and more accurate in specifying whether a word was part of a set of five words that had been flashed on the screen shortly before. That is a powerful test of working memory.

“Working memory also has been called ‘scratch pad memory’ because it is when the brain only needs to remember things for a short period of time and then wipes it out,” he said.

The enhanced performance of the smokers was evident even after they abstained from cigarettes for 12 hours, Pineda said.

But the researcher, a nonsmoker himself, emphasized that the slight advantage does not justify the severe additional health risks of smoking cigarettes.

“This in no way supports an argument that people should go out and smoke,” said Pineda.

Smoking is the major cause of lung cancer and has been linked to cancers of the pancreas, stomach, breast, ovary and throat. Smoking also causes emphysema, an often lethal breathing disorder. And it has been identified as a major contributor to cardiovascular disease, impotence, stroke, heart attack and even dental disease.

Despite all those known health effects, scientists are still uncertain about nicotine’s precise effects on the brain, Pineda said.