Neuroscience probes of cigarette craving &consumption

Stanford University, Stanford CA

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Abstract

The long-term objective of this research is to innovate affective neuroscience methods for eliciting drug craving and predicting drug consumption. The specific aims of the proposed research are to compare neural and affective responses of smokers versus nonsmokers to: (1) monetary incentive cues; (2) unavailable cigarette cues, and (3) available cigarette cues. We predict that smokers will show selectively enhanced ventral striatal activation and positive arousal to available drug cues only, and that this neural activation will predict subsequent smoking behavior. Once developed, these methods could be extended to samples who abuse other substances in order to track therapeutic efficacy and predict outcomes. Cigarette smoking and other addictions constitute key public health problems; a more complete understanding of neural mechanisms underlying addiction will inform future therapeutic treatments. Methods developed in this application may also provide a useful index of addiction and individual proclivity towards relapse.