Smoker-nonsmoker differences in neural response to smoking-related and affective cues: an fMRI investigation.

Smoking may sensitize brain systems to smoking cues while desensitizing systems to naturalistic rewards. This study examined smoker-nonsmoker differences in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response to smoking-related and emotional images. Smokers, relative to nonsmokers, exhibited greater reactivity to smoking and decreased reactivity to emotional cues in the left middle frontal gyrus.