title: Nicotine withdrawal modulates frontal brain function during an affective Stroop task.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Among nicotine-dependent smokers, smoking abstinence disrupts multiple cognitive and affective processes including conflict resolution and emotional information processing (EIP). However, the neurobiological basis of abstinence effects on resolving emotional interference on cognition remains largely uncharacterized. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate smoking abstinence effects on emotion-cognition interactions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Smokers (n = 17) underwent fMRI while performing an affective Stroop task (aST) over two sessions: once following 24-h abstinence and once following smoking as usual. The aST includes trials that serially present incongruent or congruent numerical grids bracketed by neutral or negative emotional distractors and view-only emotional image trials. Statistical analyses were conducted using a statistical threshold of p < 0.05 cluster corrected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Smoking abstinence increased Stroop blood-oxygenation-level-dependent response in the right middle frontal and rostral anterior cingulate gyri. Moreover, withdrawal-induced negative affect was associated with less activation in frontoparietal regions during negative emotional information processing; whereas, during Stroop trials, negative affect predicted greater activation in frontal regions during negative, but not neutral emotional distractor trials.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hyperactivation in the frontal executive control network during smoking abstinence may represent a need to recruit additional executive resources to meet task demands. Moreover, abstinence-induced negative affect may disrupt cognitive control neural circuitry during EIP and place additional demands on frontal executive neural resources during cognitive demands when presented with emotionally distracting stimuli.
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, 2608 Erwin Road, Lake View Pavilion East Suite 300, Durham, NC 27705-4596, USA. brett.froeliger@duke.edu
authors: Brett
authors: B
authors: Froeliger
authors: Leslie
authors: L
authors: Modlin
authors: Lihong
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: Rachel V
authors: RV
authors: Kozink
authors: F Joseph
authors: FJ
authors: McClernon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009538:Nicotine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000523:psychology; D057190:Stroop Test; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D009538:Nicotine