Archival ReportNicotine Dependence Is Characterized by Disordered Reward Processing in a Network Driving Motivation
Section snippets
Subjects
We recruited 51 participants. Three occasional and six dependent smokers were excluded because of noncompliance with study requirements. The final sample consisted of 21 dependent and 21 occasional smokers with comparable age and smoking onset (for details, see Table S1 in Supplement 1). Inclusion criteria for dependent smokers were a score in the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND) (13) greater than 5 and a diagnosis of nicotine dependence according to DSM-IV (14). Smokers were not
Results
Subject data, physiologic measures, and ratings on the subjective importance of reward are presented in Table S1 in Supplement 1.
Discussion
In line with our hypothesis, mesocorticolimbic activity data during performance of an instrumental motivation task suggest that the incentive salience of drug- relative to nondrug-reward-predicting stimuli differed between dependent and nondependent, occasional smokers. Nondrug-reward-predicting stimuli possessed higher incentive salience only for the group of nondependent, occasional smokers, reflected in higher reactivity of the mesocorticolimbic system to stimuli predicting monetary reward
Conclusion
This imbalance in the incentive salience of drug- relative to nondrug-reward-predicting stimuli in dependent compared with nondependent smokers in a network that drives subsequent motivation to obtain the respective reward could represent a central mechanism of nicotine addiction. Our results suggest that preventive approaches and therapeutic treatments that aim to enhance the salience of nondrug-reward-predicting stimuli in addicts could be effective in relapse prevention. Prospective studies
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