Neurobiological substrate of smoking-related attentional bias

Individual Differences in Anterior Cingulate Activation Associated with Attentional Bias Predict Cocaine Use After Treatment

“…Brain regions that have been found to be associated with attentional bias in addiction include (prefrontal) cortices such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC; Luijten et al, 2011Luijten et al, , 2012Nestor et al, 2011;Vollstädt-Klein et al, 2012), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; Hester and Garavan, 2009;Luijten et al, 2012;Vollstädt-Klein et al, 2012), insula (Luijten et al, 2011;Vollstädt-Klein et al, 2012), and subcortical structures such as the nucleus accumbens (Nestor et al, 2011) and amygdala (Vollstädt-Klein et al, 2012;Janes et al, 2010a). Most pertinent to the present study is that attentional bias-related brain activity in the insula and dorsal ACC (dACC) has been found to be predictive of smoking relapse (Janes et al, 2010b).…”

“…The dorsal part of the ACC has been implicated in cognitive processes such as salience detection (Seeley et al, 2007), conflict monitoring in general (Botvinick et al, 2004;Kerns et al, 2004;Egner et al, 2008) and in the presence of emotionally salient distractors (specifically the right dACC; Haas et al, 2006). Hyperactivity in the ACC associated with attentional bias to substance-related cues has previously been shown in smokers (Luijten et al, 2011(Luijten et al, , 2012Nestor et al, 2011;Janes et al, 2010b) and alcohol-dependent patients (Vollstädt-Klein et al, 2012), and is thought to reflect enhanced conflict when task performance is being interfered by the automatic detection of salient substancerelated stimuli. However, the present design does not rule out alternative interpretations of the dACC involvement.…”

An early attentional bias to BEGIN-stimuli of the smoking ritual is accompanied with mesocorticolimbic deactivations in smokers

“…Through the contrast distraction-task minus identification-task, it is possible to evaluate the neural underpinnings of the attentional bias. This contrast allows us to identify the neural correlates of the smoking stimuli when attention is captured during a primary task separated from effects occurring in a simple cue exposure paradigm where stimuli can be elaborately processed, as done similarly by Luijten et al (2011).…”

“…The few available imaging studies mainly focused on addictive disorders other than smoking (Ersche et al 2010;Hester and Garavan 2009;Goldstein et al 2007). Only recently, a first step was made to disentangle the neuronal correlates of biased attentional processing of drug stimuli in smokers (Luijten et al 2011). Results suggest that an attentional bias to drug stimuli (neuronal responses to drug-stimuli minus neuronal responses to control-stimuli during the primary task) may be reflected in stronger activations in inferior frontal and cerebellar (Ersche et al 2010;Hester and Garavan 2009;Luijten et al 2011), as well as in parietal, occipital, and temporal regions (Hester and Garavan 2009;Luijten et al 2011).…”

“…Only recently, a first step was made to disentangle the neuronal correlates of biased attentional processing of drug stimuli in smokers (Luijten et al 2011). Results suggest that an attentional bias to drug stimuli (neuronal responses to drug-stimuli minus neuronal responses to control-stimuli during the primary task) may be reflected in stronger activations in inferior frontal and cerebellar (Ersche et al 2010;Hester and Garavan 2009;Luijten et al 2011), as well as in parietal, occipital, and temporal regions (Hester and Garavan 2009;Luijten et al 2011). However, one study conducted by Goldstein et al (2007) found a trend for less activity in ventromedial prefrontal structures to drug cues compared with control stimuli during a primary task and revealed a significant negative correlation between the "drug-stimuli minus controlstimuli" contrast and the individual degree of the attentional bias (as measured by response accuracies) in these structures.…”