Cue reactivity in smokers: effects of the temporal stage of cues and focus of attention

Stippekohl, B.¹, Winkler, M.², Mucha, R. F.², Pauli, P.², Vaitl, D.¹, and Stark, R.^1
1University of Giessen, Bender Institute of Neuroimaging; ²University of Würzburg, Department of Psychology

Smoking associated stimuli related to the beginning of the smoking ritual lead to craving in smokers and activate neuronal structures related to emotion & motivation, learning & memory, attention and cognitive control. However, stimuli related to the end lead to lesser craving and inhibit brain activation in the ventral striatum and the anterior cingulate cortex. In this study we tried to replicate these findings and further elucidate the role of attention in cue reactivity. Deprived smokers, non-deprived smokers and non-smokers saw begin-stimuli and end-stimuli of the smoking ritual superimposed with a geometrical figure for a very short duration. In one condition subjects had to state whether they saw a smoking picture or a neutral control picture (explicit attention) whereas in the other condition they had to state whether parts of the figure were oriented vertical or horizontal (implicit attention). First results indicate a greater allocation of attention resources by begin-stimuli. Final results will be presented at the conference.

Symposium 11: Neural and behavioural correlates of addiction
11.06.2009, 16:00-17:00
Seminarraum 6