Automatic Attention to Smoking Cues: Neural Correlates

描述（由申请人提供）：线索反应范式已被用于研究药物滥用中涉及的联想和注意机制。例如，接触与吸烟有关的线索（例如，看着某人吸烟）已被发现会唤起自我报告的渴望和自主神经系统的觉醒（例如，心率和皮肤电导）。这项拟议的研究旨在更好地理解依赖吸烟者通过吸烟线索捕捉注意力的大脑动力学。事件相关脑电位（ERP）的检查是为了研究大脑在最初接触图像线索时的情况。很少有吸烟线索反应性研究使用了ERP方法，现有的研究没有解决自动与控制处理的问题，也没有使用脑源定位技术。本研究将通过比较不经常呈现的吸烟、中性、积极影响和消极影响图片对ERP分量振幅的反应来解决这些问题。在执行吸烟提示任务时，被试会进行与提示类型无关的高要求注意任务，从而减少自愿注意对提示加工的影响。我们建议研究吸烟者、前吸烟者和非吸烟者（对照）对吸烟和中性提示的自动注意的神经相关性。假设吸烟者对吸烟提示的ERP分量（N1、P2和N2）比中性提示的振幅更大，而这种效应在前吸烟者和非吸烟者中不存在。我们还假设，这些线索反应性的ERP差异将与当前吸烟行为和尼古丁依赖的指标有关。最后，我们假设大脑中与注意力相关的区域（例如，前扣带皮层和岛叶皮层）将是吸烟提示诱发的ERP波形成分的来源。公共卫生相关性：本研究将有助于更好地理解吸烟者对吸烟线索的自动注意加工反应。关于吸烟相关线索如何激活吸烟者的神经过程的知识，可以为针对吸烟者个体独特特征的治疗方案的发展提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cue reactivity paradigms have been used to study associative and attentional mechanisms involved in drug abuse. For instance, exposure to smoking-related cues (e.g., watching someone smoke a cigarette) has been found to evoke self-reported craving and autonomic nervous system arousal (e.g., heart-rate and skin conductance). The proposed research seeks to better understand brain dynamics involving the capture of attention by smoking cues in dependent smokers. The examination of event-related brain potentials (ERP) is for studying the brain during initial exposure to picture cues. Very little smoking cue reactivity research has utilized ERP methodology, and existing studies have not addressed automatic versus controlled processing, nor have they used brain source localization techniques. The proposed study will address these issues by comparing ERP component amplitudes in response to the initial presentation of infrequently presented smoking, neutral, positive affect, and negative affect pictures. While performing this smoking cue task, participants will be engaged in a demanding attention task that is not relevant to cue type, thereby reducing voluntary attention effects on cue processing. We propose to study neural correlates of automatic attention to smoking and neutral cues among smokers, former smokers, and nonsmokers (controls). It is hypothesized that smokers will have greater ERP component (N1, P2, and N2) amplitudes in response to smoking cues relative to neutral cues, and that this effect will not be present in former smokers and nonsmokers. It is also hypothesized that these ERP differences in cue reactivity will be associated with indices of current smoking behavior and nicotine dependence. Finally, we hypothesize that attention-related areas of the brain (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex and insular cortex) will be sources for smoking cue elicited components of the ERP waveform. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study will contribute to greater understanding of automatic attentional processing in response to smoking cues among smokers. Knowledge obtained about how smoking-related cues initially activate neural processes among smokers may inform the development of treatment programs that target the unique characteristics of individual smokers.