A novel FMRI smoking craving and reward paradigm
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Despite the well-known risks, most smokers find it difficult to quit smoking because the urge to smoke can be very strong. In fact, most attempts to quit are not fully successful. Recent technological advances have made it possible to begin to look at the processes in the brain that underlie the sometimes overwhelming desire to smoke. In previous studies, scientists have looked at the activity in smokers’ brains when they watch videos of people smoking, or when they hear stories about smoking – both experiences known to cause craving for a cigarette. They have found that the desire to smoke is related to increased activity in regions buried deep in the brain – the same regions known to underlie craving for other drugs (for example cocaine) as well as natural motivations (for example sex and hunger). In this research we hope to substantially improve the methods used in these brain imaging studies, by using a specially constructed device that will allow cigarette smoke to be delivered and consumed during the course of brain imaging. Instead of visualizing the brain merely during exposure to stimuli that evoke craving, we will be able to visualize the brain while smokers actually pursue and obtain cigarette smoke. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 In this study we will ask participants – current smokers not yet interested in quitting – to go 12 hours (overnight) without smoking, to make certain they will have a strong desire to smoke during the experiment. We will confirm their success at meeting this requirement by testing for particles in their breath that indicate recent smoking. After sufficient training on how to perform the experimental task, subjects will be placed in a brain-imaging device that will take a picture of their brain’s activity every 2.5 seconds. During the time these images are taken, subjects will watch pictures that appear on a screen, and will press a button as quickly as they can whenever an “X” appears on the screen. Some pictures will contain images of smoking. On some rounds of the task, subjects will be signaled that they stand to gain access to cigarette smoke if they respond quickly enough on that trial. Feedback after they respond will indicate whether they succeeded. If they did succeed, smoke from their favorite brand of cigarettes will be delivered after a brief pause through the specialized smoke inhalation device. In this way, brain activity can be examined while individuals pursue, anticipate, and consume actual cigarette smoke.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 This type of research might lead to new treatments – the more scientists know about the brain processes that make it so difficult to quit, the better equipped they are to propose medications that could be expected to make it easier to quit. This type of research might also provide a valuable tool for testing the effectiveness of anti-smoking therapies and communications. If scientists could measure the degree to which an individual’s brain is exhibiting “craving activity”, they could test which interventions reduced that activity. Brain activity could be measured first before, and then after an intervention (such as psychotherapy, medication, or even anti-smoking commercials). Interventions that caused the greatest reductions in craving related brain activity would be judged to be the best interventions to pursue.