Smokers have a more difficult time remembering everyday tasks than people who have quit smoking or those who have never smoked, a new study suggests.

British researchers gave memory tests to a group of 27 smokers, 18 people who had quit smoking, and 24 people who had never smoked. Participants were asked to remember to do certain tasks at different locations.

Smokers were able to remember only 59 percent of the tasks, compared with 74 percent of the former smokers and 81 percent of those who never smoked, HealthDay reports.

Researcher Tom Heffernan of Northumbria University, said in a news release that the study is the first to examine the effect that quitting smoking has on memory. The study appears in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.