Background
In cigarette smokers, the most commonly reported areas of brain activation during
visual cigarette cue exposure are the prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and visual cortices.
We sought to determine changes in brain activity in response to cigarette cues when
smokers actively resist craving.
Methods
Forty-two tobacco-dependent smokers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging,
during which they were presented with videotaped cues. Three cue presentation conditions
were tested: cigarette cues with subjects allowing themselves to crave (cigarette
cue crave), cigarette cues with the instruction to resist craving (cigarette cue resist),
and matched neutral cues.
Results
Activation was found in the cigarette cue resist (compared with the cigarette cue
crave) condition in the left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), posterior cingulate
cortex (PCC), and precuneus. Lower magnetic resonance signal for the cigarette cue
resist condition was found in the cuneus bilaterally, left lateral occipital gyrus,
and right postcentral gyrus. These relative activations and deactivations were more
robust when the cigarette cue resist condition was compared with the neutral cue condition.
Conclusions
Suppressing craving during cigarette cue exposure involves activation of limbic (and
related) brain regions and deactivation of primary sensory and motor cortices.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 11, 2007
Accepted:
October 13,
2006
Received in revised form:
August 22,
2006
Received:
April 7,
2006
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
