Nicotine Usage on the Presence of Inattentional Blindness and Attention Among Smokers and Non-Smokers

Abstract

Nicotine is a very commonly used substance in adults and one of the most widely researched effects of nicotine is its impact on attention and perception. Inattentional blindness is an important area of research in psychology, as it has implications for our understanding of perception, attention, and consciousness and is a very new variable in the field of research. This study aimed to study the difference of nicotine usage in the presence of Inattentional Blindness and on Attention of smokers and non-smokers. Purposive sampling was used to draw a sample of 30 participants, 15 smokers and 15 non-smokers across Bangalore, Karnataka aged between 18-25 years old. Cancellation task was used to assess Attention and Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris Selective Attention Video (1999) was used to assess Inattentional blindness. Further ANOVA was done using SPSS and the findings of the study indicated that there was no significant difference in the presence of Inattentional blindness and attention amongst smokers and non-smokers.