Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: Cigarette smoking remains the number one preventable cause of death in the United States. Cigarette craving during a quit attempt has been linked to relapse, suggesting it is a clinically significant construct. This study investigated an understudied method of craving reduction, involving the administration of olfactory cues after craving induction. Olfactory cues may work to combat craving because they strongly engage attentional and emotional processing, can induce vivid autobiographical memory (AM) recall, and because olfactory processing brain regions overlap with regions involved in craving. Using both general linear model (GLM) and multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) approaches, this study collected fMRI and behavioral data to build upon a set of behavioral studies that have found odors to be an effective craving reduction tool. The neural response during a strong craving state was assessed in 39 adult daily smokers across a variety of craving, olfactory, and AM regions before and after an odor exposure paradigm, during which half of the participants smelled a pleasant odor cue and half smelled a neutral odor. Results indicate that exposure to a pleasant odor cue (compared to a neutral odor cue) changed the neural response in craving related regions. Odor characteristics, namely specific memory association for an odor, and individual differences in attention to odors were found to influence this odor-induced craving change. In addition, this study found that MVPA techniques are compatible with the unique study design requirements of craving research. Study limitations, implications, and possible future directions are discussed in light of these findings.
Author: Lea Martin
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2971307406