Rethinking Prevention

- Smokers are implicitly biased with regard to the pros/cons of smoking (more attention and/or approach tendencies with regard to the pros)

- These biases can be retrained using implicit pictorial trainings based on the Visual Probe Task and the Approach Avoidance Task

Baseline and followup after 1 and 3 months

Visual probe training: Smokers will receive an internet-based attentional retraining. The training consists of trials in which participants are shown a pro and a con of smoking on screen. After the pictures are shown, one of the pictures is replaced by an arrow: the participant is asked to identify the direction of the arrow. In the training, the attention of the participants is drawn towards the cons of smoking by having an arrow appearing behind the cons of smoking in at least 90% of the trials. The participants are asked to react on the arrow by using the keybord.



Approach avoidance training: Smokers will receive an internet-based approach avoidance training. The training consists of trials in which participants are shown a pro or a con in portrait or landscape format. The participant is asked to either pull the portrait picture (and push the landscape picture) or to pull the landscap picture (and push the portrait picture). In the training, the cons of smoking are shown in the pull format in at least 90% of the trials. The participants can use the keyboard to push and pull the pictures.



Control group: no intervention