Psychophysiological impact of european tobacco-warning images

Abstract

The World Health Organization insures that tobacco epidemic kills nearly six million people a year. In 2003, the European Commission proposed a series of pictorial warnings to be use on tobacco packages for to prompt negative attitudes towards smoking and predispose smokers to quit smoking. This study evaluated the physiological impact of tobacco-warning European Commission. Fifty healthy volunteers (aged 19 – 23 years) participated in the study. They saw a set of thirty six IAPS pictures and twenty four European tobacco-warning images. Electromyographic activity of zigomatic major and corrugator were recorded when subjects were viewing the pictures. The results showed higher EMG activity level of corrugator to unpleasant IAPS pictures compared to tobacco-warning images. These results indicated that images proposed by the European Commission for tobacco packages could gain of more activating images, in order to promote the activation of defensive/avoidance motivational system.