Two experiments were carried out in order to assess human tolerance to the cardiovascular effects of tobacco nicotine (0.9mg per cigar). The development of pharmacological tolerance to the effects of nicotine on the heart rate was examined in the first experiment. In the second experiment, participation of Pavlovian conditioning processes in conditioned tolerance and development of a conditioned compensatory response (CCR) were examined, the response being opposed to an initial increase provoked in the heart rate by the nicotine. Two groups of subjects were used in each experiment. In the first experiment, one group smoked tobacco cigarettes during five trials and the other group smoked lettuce cigarettes (placebo), during five trials. In the second experiment, both groups smoked tobacco cigarettes during five trials, one group in a different context, and a second group smoked placebo cigarettes during five trials in another context. Results of the first experiment revealed that the chronic administration of nicotine produced tolerance to the effects on the heart rate, whereas in the second experiment, the repeated administration of the drug in a distinct context produced conditioned tolerance to the cardiovascular effects of the tobacco nicotine. When the participants smoked placebo cigarettes in the same context where nicotine was administrated, a CCR was observed. The results are discussed in terms of Siegel's conditioned tolerance model (1977).
Vila, J., Ruiz, R. I., Trejo, F., & Miranda, F. (2013). Pavlovian conditioning factors in the development of tolerance to the cardiovascular effects produced by tobacco nicotine. Revista De Psicología, 22(1), Pág. 13–21. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-0581.2013.27715
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