Linking Brain Network Dynamics to Imminent Smoking Lapse Risk and Behavior

Most attempts to quit smoking end in relapse, or a return to regular smoking. One of the biggest threats to cessation is a lapse (i.e., any cigarette use during a quit attempt). Thus, characterizing why lapses occur is essential to understanding and preventing smoking relapse. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a promising method for characterizing the psychological processes that lead to smoking lapses because it provides a way to measures patterns of brain activity thought to reflect relevant mental processes as they change over time. However, methodological issues have hindered the ability to capitalize on this potential and prevented an understanding of how brain activity and corresponding psychological processes unfold in the critical moments that immediately precede a smoking lapse. The proposed project will address this knowledge gap using a novel fMRI paradigm adapted from a well-validated behavioral lapse task. The goals of the project are to characterize changes in brain activity that lead up to a lapse and to investigate how these changes are related to concurrent affect and subsequent cigarette use.