Functional MRI (fMRI) is shedding light on why so many people are unable to quit smoking, according to a study published online March 12 in JAMA Psychiatry.
Aspiring quitters who suffer from nicotine withdrawal may have more trouble shifting from a default brain mode to a control mode, the executive control network, which could exert more self-control over those cravings, concluded researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
The results help provide a neurobiological basis as to why as many as 80% of smokers relapse, and the research could help identify smokers at high risk for relapse who need more intensive smoking cessation therapy. The study was led by Caryn Lerman, PhD, deputy director of Penn's Abramson Cancer Center.
In the study, 37 healthy smokers (who smoke more than 10 cigarettes a day) ages 19 to 61 underwent fMRI brain scans in two different sessions. One scan was performed 24 hours after abstinence from smoking, while the second scan was conducted after smoking as usual.
Imaging showed that smokers who abstained from cigarettes had weakened interconnectivity between certain large-scale networks in their brains: the default mode network, the executive control network, and the salience network. Weakened connectivity during abstinence was linked to increases in smoking urges, negative mood, and withdrawal symptoms.
Establishing the strength of the connectivity between these large-scale brain networks will be important in predicting people's ability to quit and stay off cigarettes, the authors noted. Also, such connectivity could serve as a clinical biomarker to identify smokers who are most likely to respond to a particular treatment.
