Neural activity during health messaging predicts reductions in smoking above and beyond self-report

Abstract

Objective: The current study tested whether neural activity in response to messages designed to help smokers quit could predict smoking reduction, above and beyond self-report.

Design: Using neural activity in an a priori region of interest (a subregion of medial prefrontal cortex [MPFC]), in response to ads designed to help smokers quit smoking, we prospectively predicted reductions in smoking in a community sample of smokers (N = 28) who were attempting to quit smoking. Smoking was assessed via expired carbon monoxide (CO; a biological measure of recent smoking) at baseline and 1 month following exposure to professionally developed quitting ads.

Results: A positive relationship was observed between activity in the MPFC region of interest and successful quitting (increased activity in MPFC was associated with a greater decrease in expired CO). The addition of neural activity to a model predicting changes in CO from self-reported intentions, self-efficacy, and ability to relate to the messages significantly improved model fit, doubling the variance explained (R²self-report = .15, R²self-report + neural activity = .35, R²change = .20).

Conclusion: Neural activity is a useful complement to existing self-report measures. In this investigation, we extend prior work predicting behavior change based on neural activity in response to persuasive media to an important health domain and discuss potential psychological interpretations of the brain-behavior link. Our results support a novel use of neuroimaging technology for understanding the psychology of behavior change and facilitating health promotion.

(c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved

Figures

Figure 1

Medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) region of interest used to predict behavior change. This particular region of MPFC was selected a priori based on prior work linking neural activity to behavior change in the context of a simpler health behavior (sunscreen use) over a 1-week period. In the current investigation, neural activity in this region also predicts smoking reduction in a group of smokers over the course of a month, above and beyond their self-reported intentions to quit, self-efficacy to quit, and ability to relate to ads designed to help people quit smoking.

Figure 2

Variance explained by self-report alone and self-report combined with neural activity in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). (a) A regression model including self-reported intentions, self-efficacy, and ability to relate to messages predicted 14.6% of the variance in behavior change. (b) A regression model including self-report measures plus neural activity during ad exposure in MPFC predicted 35% of the variance in behavior change ( Rchange2=.20∗). * p < .05.