, 2002). Nevertheless, we expected an association between negative affect and craving. The association between selleck screening library negative affect and craving leveled off at the upper ranges of negative affect, suggesting that moderate negative emotion was enough to trigger craving and that craving did not continually increase as affect grew increasingly negative. Interestingly, in addition to there being a main effect of arousal on craving, craving was highest when both negative affect and arousal were elevated (i.e., there was a negative affect by arousal interaction). According to the circumplex model of affect (Russell, 1980), such states characterize emotions such as anxiety or anger. Some studies have demonstrated increased craving in response to stress manipulations (Perkins & Grobe, 1992; Tiffany & Drobes, 1990).

Our results appear to be consistent with these findings. Positive affect was also modestly associated with increases in cigarette craving while smoking (see Figure 1). This finding is consistent with a model in which appetitive-based ��positive�� urges are experienced during ad libitum smoking (vs. negative affect urges during deprivation; Baker et al., 1987). While previous cue reactivity studies have not shown an association between positive affect and increased cigarette craving (Drobes & Tiffany, 1997; Maude-Griffin & Tiffany, 1996), craving is typically assessed outside the context of actual smoking. Further work is needed to clarify the relationships between dimensions of emotion and craving. Nonetheless, these findings suggest that affective state may moderate craving, even if it does not moderate smoking itself.

A potential limitation of the present study was that participants were smokers who were preparing to quit. Besides limiting generalizability, this might have enhanced reactivity to monitoring, leading to reduced smoking. However, in a similar sample of heavy smokers preparing to quit, Shiffman et al. (2002) found only a slight decrease in reported ad libitum cigarette consumption (a drop of 0.3 CPD), and no change in carbon monoxide levels, suggesting any changes in actual consumption were modest. In addition, previous studies have shown only a modest increase in average cigarette craving (0.016 points per day on a 0- to 10-point scale) as smokers approach TQD (Dunbar, Scharf, Kirchner, & Shiffman, 2007). However, these studies cannot address whether Dacomitinib patterns of smoking (as opposed to amount) and craving might be changed by reactivity due to monitoring or to impending cessation. The study also had a number of strengths. The use of real-time, real-world EMA data allowed us to examine variations in craving outside the laboratory, as participants were actually smoking.