title: An fMRI study of nicotine-deprived smokers' reactivity to smoking cues during novel/exciting activity.
abstract: Engaging in novel/exciting ("self-expanding") activities activates the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, a brain reward pathway also associated with the rewarding effects of nicotine. This suggests that self-expanding activities can potentially substitute for the reward from nicotine. We tested this model among nicotine-deprived smokers who, during fMRI scanning, played a series of two-player cooperative games with a relationship partner. Games were randomized in a 2 (self-expanding vs. not) x 2 (cigarette cue present vs. absent) design. Self-expansion conditions yielded significantly greater activation in a reward region (caudate) than did non-self-expansion conditions. Moreover, when exposed to smoking cues during the self-expanding versus the non-self-expanding cooperative games, smokers showed less activation in a cigarette cue-reactivity region, a priori defined [temporo-parietal junction (TPJ)] from a recent meta-analysis of cue-reactivity. In smoking cue conditions, increases in excitement associated with the self-expanding condition (versus the non-self-expanding condition) were also negatively correlated with TPJ activation. These results support the idea that a self-expanding activity promoting reward activation attenuates cigarette cue-reactivity among nicotine-deprived smokers. Future research could focus on the parameters of self-expanding activities that produce this effect, as well as test the utility of self-expansion in clinical interventions for smoking cessation.
authors.affiliation: Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho, United States of America.
authors.forename: Xiaomeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aron
authors.affiliation: American Cancer Society, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: J Lee
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Westmaas
authors.affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, United States of America, and Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lawrence H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Sweet
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016739:Behavior, Addictive; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D012907:Smoking; D055815:Young Adult
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