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Grant Details

Grant Number: 9R01CA159463-10A1 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator: Sayette, Michael
Organization: University Of Pittsburgh At Pittsburgh
Project Title: Affective and Cognitive Processes in Smoking Craving
Fiscal Year: 2010


Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Smoking remains a leading preventable cause of mortality and morbidity. While it is relatively easy to develop nicotine dependence, it remains difficult to quit. Craving has been linked to nicotine dependence and the purpose of this competing renewal is to improve understanding of emotional and cognitive processes related to craving that underlie addiction. Because most lab-based craving studies involve subjects who do not expect to use the drug, the emotion experienced during such cravings tends to be negative. Outside the lab, however, cravings occur in conjunction with a variety of expectations regarding drug use, and in some cases are associated with positive anticipatory emotional states. A premise of the proposed study is that the loss of these positive "anticipatory" cravings after quitting constitutes a major challenge to remaining abstinent. The proposed laboratory research will apply theory and methods from experimental psychology to examine situational and individual difference factors that moderate the diverse effects of craving on affect and cognition, with particular emphasis on these positive craving states. The proposed study (n=300) will test the impact of treatment-seeking status (active vs. quitting smokers) and perceived smoking opportunity on a novel set of craving-related responses derived from basic research in emotion and cognitive science. To induce craving, abstinent smokers will be exposed to smoking cues, and instructions related to smoking opportunity will be manipulated. We also aim to evaluate the moderating effect of individual differences in personality, anhedonia, working memory, and dopamine-regulating gene variation on cravings. In addition, the proposed study will provide the first test to determine whether facial reactivity to smoking cues (coded using the Facial Action Coding System), can uniquely predict smoking relapse over an 8-week period following quitting. If successful, this test would offer early identification of those at high risk for relapse and suggest new directions for targeting affective processes in treatment. By tying craving to responses that are meaningfully linked to smoking, and that vary in different contexts and across individuals, the project aims to identify distinct craving patterns that may contribute to relapse risk. Irrespective of the outcome, the study will provide critical data regarding observable effects of an important but understudied form of anticipatory craving linked to positive affect, which will improve understanding of factors contributing to the etiology of nicotine addiction. In addition, identification of different emotional and cognitive experiences associated with positive cravings may lead to new directions for treatment that address the anhedonia and dysphoria smokers experience specifically as a result of losing these positive anticipatory experiences. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Craving is a cardinal feature of smoking addiction, which remains the leading cause of preventable mortality in the US. Despite its importance, research has relatively ignored the positive affect-related cravings often experienced by smokers while anticipating the smoking of their next cigarette. Understanding "positive" cravings, determining who is most sensitive to experiencing them, and examining the degree to which facial coding of these craving experiences can predict subsequent relapse, will advance knowledge regarding the emotional mechanisms underlying relapse and will suggest new directions for treatment that address the anhedonia and dysphoria smokers experience specifically as a result of losing these positive anticipatory experiences.



Publications

In search of anticipatory cigarette cravings: The impact of perceived smoking opportunity and motivation to seek treatment.
Authors: Sayette M.A. , Dimoff J.D. .
Source: Psychology Of Addictive Behaviors : Journal Of The Society Of Psychologists In Addictive Behaviors, 2016 05; 30(3), p. 277-86.
PMID: 27099960
Related Citations

Suppression on your own terms: internally generated displays of craving suppression predict rebound effects.
Authors: Sayers W.M. , Sayette M.A. .
Source: Psychological Science, 2013 Sep; 24(9), p. 1740-6.
PMID: 23842957
Related Citations

Peak provoked craving: an alternative to smoking cue-reactivity.
Authors: Sayette M.A. , Tiffany S.T. .
Source: Addiction (abingdon, England), 2013 Jun; 108(6), p. 1019-25.
PMID: 23075138
Related Citations

Facial reactions to smoking cues relate to ambivalence about smoking.
Authors: Griffin K.M. , Sayette M.A. .
Source: Psychology Of Addictive Behaviors : Journal Of The Society Of Psychologists In Addictive Behaviors, 2008 Dec; 22(4), p. 551-6.
PMID: 19071980
Related Citations

Exploring the cold-to-hot empathy gap in smokers.
Authors: Sayette M.A. , Loewenstein G. , Griffin K.M. , Black J.J. .
Source: Psychological Science, 2008 Sep; 19(9), p. 926-32.
PMID: 18947359
Related Citations

Effect of smoking opportunity on responses to monetary gain and loss in the caudate nucleus.
Authors: Wilson S.J. , Sayette M.A. , Delgado M.R. , Fiez J.A. .
Source: Journal Of Abnormal Psychology, 2008 May; 117(2), p. 428-34.
PMID: 18489219
Related Citations

Carry-over effects of smoking cue exposure on working memory performance.
Authors: Wilson S.J. , Sayette M.A. , Fiez J.A. , Brough E. .
Source: Nicotine & Tobacco Research : Official Journal Of The Society For Research On Nicotine And Tobacco, 2007 May; 9(5), p. 613-9.
PMID: 17454718
Related Citations

Effects of smoking abstinence and alcohol consumption on smoking-related outcome expectancies in heavy smokers and tobacco chippers.
Authors: Kirchner T.R. , Sayette M.A. .
Source: Nicotine & Tobacco Research : Official Journal Of The Society For Research On Nicotine And Tobacco, 2007 Mar; 9(3), p. 365-76.
PMID: 17365768
Related Citations

The effects of alcohol on cigarette craving in heavy smokers and tobacco chippers.
Authors: Sayette M.A. , Martin C.S. , Wertz J.M. , Perrott M.A. , Peters A.R. .
Source: Psychology Of Addictive Behaviors : Journal Of The Society Of Psychologists In Addictive Behaviors, 2005 Sep; 19(3), p. 263-70.
PMID: 16187804
Related Citations

Instructed smoking expectancy modulates cue-elicited neural activity: a preliminary study.
Authors: Wilson S.J. , Sayette M.A. , Delgado M.R. , Fiez J.A. .
Source: Nicotine & Tobacco Research : Official Journal Of The Society For Research On Nicotine And Tobacco, 2005 Aug; 7(4), p. 637-45.
PMID: 16085533
Related Citations

Validation of the nicotine dependence syndrome scale (NDSS): a criterion-group design contrasting chippers and regular smokers.
Authors: Shiffman S. , Sayette M.A. .
Source: Drug And Alcohol Dependence, 2005 Jul; 79(1), p. 45-52.
PMID: 15943943
Related Citations

Effects of smoking urge on temporal cognition.
Authors: Sayette M.A. , Loewenstein G. , Kirchner T.R. , Travis T. .
Source: Psychology Of Addictive Behaviors : Journal Of The Society Of Psychologists In Addictive Behaviors, 2005 Mar; 19(1), p. 88-93.
PMID: 15783282
Related Citations

Prefrontal responses to drug cues: a neurocognitive analysis.
Authors: Wilson S.J. , Sayette M.A. , Fiez J.A. .
Source: Nature Neuroscience, 2004 Mar; 7(3), p. 211-4.
PMID: 15001989
Related Citations

Effects of smoking opportunity on cue-elicited urge: a facial coding analysis.
Authors: Sayette M.A. , Wertz J.M. , Martin C.S. , Cohn J.F. , Perrott M.A. , Hobel J. .
Source: Experimental And Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2003 Aug; 11(3), p. 218-27.
PMID: 12940501
Related Citations

Effects of nicotine deprivation on craving response covariation in smokers.
Authors: Sayette M.A. , Martin C.S. , Hull J.G. , Wertz J.M. , Perrott M.A. .
Source: Journal Of Abnormal Psychology, 2003 Feb; 112(1), p. 110-8.
PMID: 12653419
Related Citations

A multi-dimensional analysis of cue-elicited craving in heavy smokers and tobacco chippers.
Authors: Sayette M.A. , Martin C.S. , Wertz J.M. , Shiffman S. , Perrott M.A. .
Source: Addiction (abingdon, England), 2001 Oct; 96(10), p. 1419-32.
PMID: 11571061
Related Citations

Effects of smoking opportunity on attentional bias in smokers.
Authors: Wertz J.M. , Sayette M.A. .
Source: Psychology Of Addictive Behaviors : Journal Of The Society Of Psychologists In Addictive Behaviors, 2001 Sep; 15(3), p. 268-71.
PMID: 11563808
Related Citations

A review of the effects of perceived drug use opportunity of self-reported urge.
Authors: Wertz J.M. , Sayette M.A. .
Source: Experimental And Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2001 Feb; 9(1), p. 3-13.
PMID: 11519632
Related Citations

The measurement of drug craving.
Authors: Sayette M.A. , Shiffman S. , Tiffany S.T. , Niaura R.S. , Martin C.S. , Shadel W.G. .
Source: Addiction (abingdon, England), 2000 Aug; 95 Suppl 2, p. S189-210.
PMID: 11002914
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