Linking Brain Network Dynamics to Imminent Smoking Lapse Risk and Behavior

Recruiting now · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Smoking, Tobacco Use

In brief

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.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT05572671

Run by

Penn State University

People needed

150

Starts

2023-04-04

Expected to finish

2027-08-01

Last updated by the study team

2026-05-05

Who can join

Age: 21 and older, up to 65. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Participants must be between the ages of 21 and 65.
• Participants must be fluent English speakers.
• Participants must pass an MRI safety screening.
• Participants must report smoking at least six cigarettes per day continuously for at least the 12 preceding months.
• Participants must have a baseline expired-air carbon monoxide exceeding 10 parts per million in order to verify smoking status.

You may not qualify if…

• Individuals will be excluded if they report that they are not willing to refrain from using nicotine for 12 hours before the experimental lab visit.
• Individuals will be excluded if they have any known risk from exposure to high-field strength magnetic fields (e.g., pacemakers), any irremovable metallic foreign objects in their body (e.g., braces), or a questionable history of metallic fragments that are likely to create artifact on the MRI scans.

Where it is running

• The Pennsylvania State University — University Park, Pennsylvania, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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