Cue exposure treatment in a virtual environment to reduce nicotine craving: a functional MRI study.
Smokers show an increase in cue reactivity during exposure to smoking-related cues. CET aims at extinguishing cue reactivity by repeated presentation of substance-related cues and has been claimed a potentially effective method of treating addictive behaviors, including cigarette smoking. We applied CET to eight late-adolescent smokers in virtual environments (VEs). When comparing pre-CET regions to those of post-CET, the inferior frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus were detected. These regions are consistent with previous studies of activated brain regions related to nicotine craving, and VE-CET seems to be an effective method of treating nicotine craving.
Moon
Jiyoon
J
Department of Psychology, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
Jang-Han
JH
D000293:Adolescent; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003463:Cues; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D014029:Tobacco Use Disorder / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D014584:User-Computer Interface
D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine