In the trenches of real-world self-control: neural correlates of breaking the link between craving and smoking

Abstract

Successful goal pursuit involves repeatedly engaging self-control against temptations or distractions that arise along the way. Laboratory studies have identified the brain systems recruited during isolated instances of self-control, and ecological studies have linked self-control capacity to goal outcomes. However, no study has identified the neural systems of everyday self-control during long-term goal pursuit. The present study integrated neuroimaging and experience-sampling methods to investigate the brain systems of successful self-control among smokers attempting to quit. A sample of 27 cigarette smokers completed a go/no-go task during functional magnetic resonance imaging before they attempted to quit smoking and then reported everyday self-control using experience sampling eight times daily for 3 weeks while they attempted to quit. Increased activation in right inferior frontal gyrus, pre-supplementary motor area, and basal ganglia regions of interest during response inhibition at baseline was associated with an attenuated association between cravings and subsequent smoking. These findings support the ecological validity of neurocognitive tasks as indices of everyday response inhibition.

Figures

Fig. 1

Timeline of the experiment. The baseline (scanning) session occurred following registration in a smoking-cessation program but prior to smoking reduction. During this session, participants performed the functional MRI (fMRI) response-inhibition (go/no-go) task and completed baseline measures of self-reported smoking; exhaled carbon dioxide (CO) was also measured. The experience-sampling phase began the day prior to the targeted quit date and continued for 21 consecutive days. Participants reported smoking and cravings at eight time points that were evenly spaced between wake-up time and bedtime. During the endpoint session, which occurred approximately 4 weeks following the targeted quit date, additional surveys were administered, and exhaled CO was measured.

Fig. 2

The go/no-go task. Participants responded using the lever whenever the letter L, N, T, or V appeared (go trials) and withheld a response when the letter X appeared (no-go trials). In an event-related analysis, a neural measure of response inhibition was defined as the difference between brain activation during successful no-go trials (overriding the prepotent “go” response) and brain activation during go trials. Each of 12 blocks contained fifty 1-s trials (~41 go trials and ~9 no-go trials) separated by gamma-distributed jitter (M = 0.5 s).

Fig. 3

The a priori anatomical target regions of interest from the Automated Anatomical Labeling (AAL) atlas (Tzourio-Mazoyer et al., 2002). The basal ganglia comprised the caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus; the pre-supplementary motor area was defined using the AAL and was restricted to be anterior to the anterior commissure (i.e., Montreal Neurological Institute y coordinates > 0); and the right inferior frontal gyrus was defined according to the AAL pars opercularis, triangularis, and orbitalis.

Fig. 4

Activation in right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) in the no-go > go contrast as a moderator of the relationship between cravings and subsequent smoking. The average number of cigarettes smoked at time i + 1 as a function of craving at time i is shown for participants with high (1 SD above the mean), average, and low (1 SD below the mean) rIFG activation in the contrast.