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Published on: August 6, 2013
Striatal hyposensitivity to delayed rewards among cigarette smokers
Shan Luo1, George Ainslie, Lisa Giragosian
1Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, SGM 501, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1061, USA.
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
|December 24, 2010
Summary
Smokers show a reduced brain response to delayed rewards compared to nonsmokers. This diminished striatal activity during reward anticipation may be a risk factor for or consequence of smoking.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Addiction Research
- Decision Making
Background:
- The ventral striatum and other value-tracking brain regions show greater activity during anticipation of immediate rewards than delayed ones, even if delayed rewards are larger.
- This difference in anticipatory response between immediate and delayed rewards has not been studied in relation to cigarette smoking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural basis of reward anticipation in smokers versus nonsmokers.
- To examine how cigarette smoking influences brain activity in response to immediate versus delayed rewards.
Main Methods:
- A functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study was conducted with 35 smokers and 36 nonsmokers.
- Participants performed a modified monetary incentive delay task involving immediate and larger, equally preferred delayed rewards.
Main Results:
- Both groups showed greater activation in value-tracking regions (ventral/dorsal striatum) for immediate versus delayed rewards.
- Smokers exhibited a significantly greater difference in right ventral striatum activation between immediate and delayed rewards compared to nonsmokers.
- This group difference was primarily due to lower striatal activation in smokers during delayed reward anticipation.
Conclusions:
- The blunted anticipatory brain response to delayed rewards in smokers is more pronounced than in nonsmokers.
- This exaggerated attenuation may represent a phenotypic risk factor for smoking or a neuroadaptation resulting from smoking.
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