Original articleNeural Sensitivity to Smoking Stimuli Is Associated With Cigarette Craving in Adolescent Smokers
Section snippets
Participants
Using community and Internet advertising, 78 right-handed, English-speaking (n = 39 postpubertal adolescents, 13–18 years; n = 39 adults, 25–30 years) smokers and nonsmokers participated (Table 1; Appendix for demographic details). Participants aged ≥18 years provided written consent, whereas participants <18 years provided assent and parents provided written consent as approved by the University of California Los Angeles Institutional Review Board. All participants self-reported that they were
Behavioral results
There was a significant main effect of cue type [F(1, 29) = 4.21, p = .05] and a significant cue type × smoking group interaction on craving [F(1, 29) = 50.19, p < .0001]. Participants reported more craving during smoking (M = 1.75, SD = .88) versus neutral cues (M = 1.26, SD = .44), with higher craving reports by smokers (M = 2.42, SD = .80) compared to nonsmokers (M = 1.10, SD = .21) during smoking cues compared to neutral cues (Figure 1B). There were no main effects of age group or
Discussion
The goal of this study was to characterize neural correlates of cigarette craving in adolescent smokers and to determine if the adolescent brain is more responsive to cigarette cues than adults. The findings reveal four novel advancements to this understudied question: (1) adolescent smokers report the same level of craving in response to cigarette cues as adult smokers, despite having a significantly shorter history of smoking; (2) exposure to smoking cues predicts changes in subsequent
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the participants and helpful comments from members of the Galván Lab.
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Cited by (0)
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.