Nicotine Withdrawal Weakens Brain Connections Tied to Self Control

A recent brain imaging study led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Brain and Behavior Change Program shows how smokers suffering from nicotine withdrawal may have more trouble shifting from a key brain network — known as default mode —into an executive control network that could help exert more self-control over cravings and focus on quitting for good. During the study, researchers found that smokers who abstained from cigarettes showed weakened interconnectivity between certain large-scale networks in their brains — the default mode network, the executive control network, and the salience network. The findings help validate a neurobiological basis behind why so many people who try to quit end up relapsing, and may lead to new ways to identify smokers at high risk for relapse who need more intensive smoking cessation therapy. To read more about this study, click here.