Masked smoking-related images modulate brain activity in smokers.
The questions of whether and how indiscriminate drug-related stimuli could influence drug-users are important to our understanding of addictive behavior, but the answers are still inconclusive. In the present preliminary functional magnetic resonance imaging study using a backward masking paradigm, the effect of indiscriminate smoking-related stimuli on 10 smokers and 10 nonsmokers was examined. The BOLD response showed a significant reduction (P = 0.001) in the right amygdala of smokers when they viewed but did not perceive masked smoking-related stimuli, while no significant differences were found in the nonsmoker group. More voxels in anterior cingulate cortex were negatively correlated with the amygdala during the masked smoking-related picture condition in smokers but not in nonsmokers, whereas more positively correlated voxels were observed during the masked neutral condition. The BOLD response in drug-users indicates the amygdala responds to drug-related stimuli that are below the perceptual threshold. The functional connectivity data suggest a functional interaction between the amygdala and the anterior cingulate cortex when drug users view 33 ms back-masked drug-related stimuli. This observation suggests that the amygdala plays an important role in the indiscriminate drug-related cue process.
Zhang
Xiaochu
X
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Science at Microscale and School of Life Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, People's Republic of China.
Chen
Xiangchuan
X
Yu
Yongqiang
Y
Sun
Delin
D
Ma
Ning
N
He
Sheng
S
Hu
Xiaoping
X
Zhang
Daren
D
D000328:Adult; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000503:physiopathology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*