title: An early attentional bias to BEGIN-stimuli of the smoking ritual is accompanied with mesocorticolimbic deactivations in smokers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Biased processing of drug-associated stimuli is believed to be a crucial feature of addiction. Particularly, an attentional bias seems to contribute to the disorder's maintenance. Recent studies suggest differential effects for stimuli associated with the beginning (BEGIN-smoking-stimuli) or the terminal stage of the smoking ritual (END-smoking-stimuli), with the former but not the later evoking high cue-reactivity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The current study investigated the neuronal network underlying an attentional bias to BEGIN-smoking-stimuli and END-smoking-stimuli in smokers and tested the hypothesis that the attentional bias is greater for BEGIN-smoking-stimuli.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen non-deprived smokers and 16 non-smoking controls participated in an fMRI study. Drug pictures (BEGIN-smoking-stimuli, END-smoking-stimuli) and control pictures were overlaid with geometrical figures and presented for 300 ms. Subjects had to identify picture content (identification-task) or figure orientation (distraction-task). The distraction-task was intended to demonstrate attentional bias.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Behavioral data revealed an attentional bias to BEGIN-smoking-stimuli but not to END-smoking-stimuli in both groups. However, only smokers showed mesocorticolimbic deactivations in the distraction-task with BEGIN-smoking-stimuli. Importantly, these deactivations were significantly stronger for BEGIN- than for END-smoking-stimuli and correlated with the attentional bias score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Several explanations may account for missing group differences in behavioral data. Brain data suggest smokers using regulatory strategies in response to BEGIN-smoking-stimuli to prevent the elicitation of motivational responses interfering with distraction-task performance. These strategies could be reflected in the observed deactivations and might lead to a performance level in smokers that is similar to that of non-smokers.
authors.affiliation: Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Otto-Behaghel-Str. 10H, 35394 Giessen, Germany. bastian.stippekohl@psychol.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: Bastian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stippekohl
authors.forename: Bertram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: Markus H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Winkler
authors.forename: Ronald F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Mucha
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vaitl
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stark
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012907:Smoking / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology