title: Cue-reactors: individual differences in cue-induced craving after food or smoking abstinence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Pavlovian conditioning plays a critical role in both drug addiction and binge eating. Recent animal research suggests that certain individuals are highly sensitive to conditioned cues, whether they signal food or drugs. Are certain humans also more reactive to both food and drug cues?
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined cue-induced craving for both cigarettes and food, in the same individuals (n = 15 adult smokers). Subjects viewed smoking-related or food-related images after abstaining from either smoking or eating.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Certain individuals reported strong cue-induced craving after both smoking and food cues. That is, subjects who reported strong cue-induced craving for cigarettes also rated stronger cue-induced food craving.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In humans, like in nonhumans, there may be a "cue-reactive" phenotype, consisting of individuals who are highly sensitive to conditioned stimuli. This finding extends recent reports from nonhuman studies. Further understanding this subgroup of smokers may allow clinicians to individually tailor therapies for smoking cessation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America. mahler@musc.edu
authors.forename: Stephen V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Mahler
authors.forename: Harriet
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: de Wit
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D003463:Cues; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012907:Smoking / Q000523:psychology*; D016540:Smoking Cessation / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult