Examining Brain Responses Linked to Emotion in Individuals Who Smoke Cigarettes

Penn State University62 enrolled

Overview

The study will use functional magnetic resonance imaging and facial coding methods to study individuals who smoke cigarettes. Smoking expectancy (the extent to which one perceives an opportunity to smoke a cigarette) will be manipulated using instructions, and the investigators will examine the effects of this manipulation on two primary endpoints under conditions designed to induce an urge to smoke: (1) brain responses measured using fMRI and (2) subjective affective responses measured using facial coding. Secondary endpoints include self-report measures of the desire to smoke and current affect.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Smoking, Tobacco

Interventions

Verbal smoking expectancy manipulationBEHAVIORAL

Instructions regarding whether or not participants will have an opportunity to smoke during the experimental session.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 21 YearsMax age: 55 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Participants must be between the ages of 21 and 55. * Participants must be right handed. * Participants must be fluent English speakers. * Participants must report smoking at least 6 cigarettes per day continuously for at least the 12 preceding months. * Participants must have a baseline expired air carbon monoxide (CO) exceeding a cutoff based upon prior research in order to verify smoking status. Exclusion Criteria: * Individuals will be excluded if they report that they are actively trying to quit smoking. * Individuals will be excluded if they report that they have had significant cardiovascular disease (such as heart disease, heart attack, stroke, or angina) or respiratory disease (such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, or COPD) during the past year. * Individuals will be excluded if they report that they have used any of the following illicit substances more than 10 times in the previous 30 days: marijuana, cocaine, opiates such as heroin, methadone, benzodiazepines (such as Valium, Xanax), barbiturates, amphetamines, methamphetamines, PCP, LSD or any other hallucinogen. * Individuals will be excluded if they report that they are currently taking prescription medications that previously have been found to affect blood flow responses in the brain. * Individuals will be excluded if they have any known risk from exposure to high-field strength magnetic fields (e.g., pace makers), any irremovable metallic foreign objects in their body (e.g., braces), or a questionable history of metallic fragments that are likely to create artifact on the MRI scans. * Individuals will be excluded if they meet criteria for current dependence on a substance other than nicotine based upon a brief structured interview. * Individuals will be excluded if they report that they are not willing to refrain from using alcohol and recreational drugs for 24 hours and nicotine for 12 hours before the experimental lab visit. * Individuals will be excluded if they currently use nicotine products other than cigarettes (e.g., chewing tobacco, snuff, e-cigarettes, or smoking cessation products). * Individuals will be excluded if they are claustrophobic or are prone to becoming very uncomfortable in confined spaces. * Individuals will be excluded if they report that they exclusively or primarily smoke "roll-your-own" cigarettes.

Locations (1)

The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, Pennsylvania, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Brain Activation During Smoking-related and Neutral Cues

Blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was analyzed as participants were presented with smoking-related and neutral cues. Following preprocessing with fMRIPrep (version 20.2.7), the FMRI Expert Analysis Tool (FEAT) from FMRIB's Software Library (FSL; version 6.0.7.4) was used to characterize brain activation differences in response to smoking-related versus neutral cues. Contrast of parameter estimate (COPE) values were calculated for each participant, and these COPE values were then extracted for two a priori regions of interest (ROIs) to compare activation patterns between the groups. Larger COPE values indicate greater differences in brain activation between smoking-related and neutral cues,

Time frame: Approximately Day 7 (Visit 2)

Coded Facial Expressions Linked to Affect During Smoking-related and Neutral Cues

Subjective affective responses were measured by using FaceReader software (version 9.1.7) to code the valence (positive or negative) of facial movements associated with emotional expression during the presentation of smoking-related and neutral cues. Possible values for valence range from -1 to 1, with higher values indicating greater positive affect,

Time frame: Approximately Day 7 (Visit 2)

Secondary Outcomes

Self-reported Urge to Smoke During Smoking-related and Neutral Cues

Participants rated their urge to smoke during the presentation of smoking-related and neutral cues on a scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 9 (extremely), with higher scores indicating a stronger desire to smoke. For each type of cue (smoking-related and neutral), repeated ratings were obtained across multiple trials. To report a single value for each Arm/Group, the ratings were averaged across all trials for each cue type.

Time frame: Approximately Day 7 (Visit 2)

Self-reported Affect During Smoking-related and Neutral Cues

Participants rated their current affect during the presentation of smoking-related and neutral cues on a scale ranging from 1 (very negative) to 9 (very positive), with higher scores indicating greater positive affect. For each type of cue (smoking-related and neutral), repeated ratings were obtained across multiple trials. To report a single value for each Arm/Group, the ratings were averaged across all trials for each cue type.

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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