Back to Search
Start Over
Nicotine deprivation elevates neural representation of smoking-related cues in object-sensitive visual cortex: a proof of concept study.
- Source :
-
Psychopharmacology . Aug2017, Vol. 234 Issue 16, p2375-2384. 10p. 1 Color Photograph, 1 Diagram, 2 Graphs. - Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Objective: In the current study, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to investigate whether tobacco addiction biases basic visual processing in favour of smoking-related images. We hypothesize that the neural representation of smoking-related stimuli in the lateral occipital complex (LOC) is elevated after a period of nicotine deprivation compared to a satiated state, but that this is not the case for object categories unrelated to smoking. Methods: Current smokers (≥10 cigarettes a day) underwent two fMRI scanning sessions: one after 10 h of nicotine abstinence and the other one after smoking ad libitum. Regional blood oxygenated level-dependent (BOLD) response was measured while participants were presented with 24 blocks of 8 colour-matched pictures of cigarettes, pencils or chairs. The functional data of 10 participants were analysed through a pattern classification approach. Results: In bilateral LOC clusters, the classifier was able to discriminate between patterns of activity elicited by visually similar smoking-related (cigarettes) and neutral objects (pencils) above empirically estimated chance levels only during deprivation (mean = 61.0%, chance (permutations) = 50.0%, p = .01) but not during satiation (mean = 53.5%, chance (permutations) = 49.9%, ns.). For all other stimulus contrasts, there was no difference in discriminability between the deprived and satiated conditions. Conclusion: The discriminability between smoking and non-smoking visual objects was elevated in object-selective brain region LOC after a period of nicotine abstinence. This indicates that attention bias likely affects basic visual object processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00333158
- Volume :
- 234
- Issue :
- 16
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Psychopharmacology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 124395666
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4628-3