Effects of cognitive load on neural and behavioral responses to smoking-cue distractors

Abstract

Smoking cessation failures are frequently thought to reflect poor top-down regulatory control over behavior. Previous studies suggest that smoking cues occupy limited working memory resources, an effect that may contribute to difficulty achieving abstinence. Few studies have evaluated the effects of cognitive load on the ability to actively maintain information in the face of distracting smoking cues. The current study adapted an fMRI probed recall task under low and high cognitive load with three distractor conditions: control, neutral images, or smoking-related images. Consistent with a limited-resource model of cue reactivity, we predicted that performance of daily smokers (n=17) would be most impaired when high load was paired with smoking distractors. Results demonstrated a main effect of load, with decreased accuracy under high, compared to low, cognitive load. Surprisingly, an interaction revealed the effect of load was weakest in the smoking cue distractor condition. Along with this behavioral effect, we observed significantly greater activation of the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) in the low load condition relative to the high load condition for trials containing smoking cue distractors. Furthermore, load-related changes in rIFG activation partially mediated the effects of load on task accuracy in the smoking cue distractor condition. These findings are discussed in the context of prevailing cognitive and cue reactivity theories. Results suggest that high cognitive load does not necessarily make smokers more susceptible to interference from smoking-related stimuli, and that elevated load may even have a buffering effect in the presence of smoking cues under certain conditions.

Anatomical and functional connectivity support the existence of a salience network node within the caudal ventrolateral prefrontal cortex

“…Clinical research also supports the proposed roles of the vlPFC in the SN. Smokers present abnormal activation in area 47/12 in response to cigarette cues (69)(70)(71)(72). Similar cueresponse in the right vlPFC was also reported in gamblers (69,70) and patients with eating disorders (73).…”

“…Clinical research also supports the proposed roles of the vlPFC in the SN. Smokers present abnormal activation in area 47/12 in response to cigarette cues (de Ruiter et al, 2009; Goudriaan et al, 2010; Kozink et al, 2010; MacLean et al, 2016). Similar cue-response in the right vlPFC was also reported in gamblers (de Ruiter et al ., 2009; Goudriaan et al ., 2010) and patients with eating disorders (Yokum et al, 2011).…”