Trial reportPsychopharmacology2009
Acute exercise modulates cigarette cravings and brain activation in response to smoking-related images: an fMRI study.
Trial report in Psychopharmacology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 140 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of exercise intervention on tobacco dependence: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of physical exercise on the emotional and cognitive levels of patients with substance use disorder: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of exercise intervention on smoking cessation: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in physiology · 2023Pooled it
- Exercise interventions for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- The acute effects of exercise on cigarette cravings, withdrawal symptoms, affect, and smoking behaviour: systematic review update and meta-analysis.Psychopharmacology · 2012Pooled it
- Effects of progressive aerobic training on neural synchrony and functional connectivity in internet gaming disorder: a randomized controlled fMRI study.BMC psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Acute effects of outdoor and indoor walking on cigarette cravings, withdrawal symptoms and affective response during temporary smoking abstinence.Psychopharmacology · 2024Trial
- Exploring the acute effects of running on cerebral blood flow and food cue reactivity in healthy young men using functional magnetic resonance imaging.Human brain mapping · 2023Trial
- Psychological and endocannabinoid responses to aerobic exercise in substance use disorder patients.Substance abuse · 2021Trial
- The effect of acute exercise on cigarette cravings while using a nicotine lozenge.Psychopharmacology · 2015Trial
- Effects of exercise on the desire to smoke and physiological responses to temporary smoking abstinence: a crossover trial.Psychopharmacology · 2015Trial
- The effects of exercise on cigarette cravings and brain activation in response to smoking-related images.Psychopharmacology · 2012Trial
- Exercise-based interventions for smoking cessation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of sport and health science · 2026Review
- Physical activity and nicotine dependence among female college smokers: a serial mediation model of smoking refusal self-efficacy and smokers' identity identification.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Aerobic exercise for substance use disorders: therapeutic effects and underlying mechanisms.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Effects of Progressive Aerobic Training on Executive-Reward Network Connectivity and Symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR serious games · 2025Article
- The impact of voluntary wheel-running exercise on hippocampal neurogenesis and behaviours in response to nicotine cessation in rats.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Review
- Functional connectivity density of different suicidal behaviors in adolescents with major depressive disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Efficacy of simple and very brief handgrip and isometric exercises for reducing withdrawal symptoms in cigarette smokers: A pilot randomized controlled trial.Tobacco induced diseases · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleSubstances of misuse (such as nicotine) are associated with increases in activation within the mesocorticolimbic brain system, a system thought to mediate the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse. Pharmacological treatments have been designed to reduce cigarette cravings during temporary abstinence. Exercise has been found to be an effective tool for controlling cigarette cravings.
objectiveThe objective of this study is to assess the effect of exercise on regional brain activation in response to smoking-related images during temporary nicotine abstinence.
methodIn a randomized crossover design, regular smokers (n = 10) undertook an exercise (10 min moderate-intensity stationary cycling) and control (passive seating for same duration) session, following 15 h of nicotine abstinence. Following treatments, participants entered a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanner. Subjects viewed a random series of smoking and neutral images for 3 s, with an average inter-stimulus-interval (ISI) of 10 s. Self-reported cravings were assessed at baseline, mid-, and post-treatments.
resultsA significant interaction effect (time by group) was found, with self-reported cravings lower during and following exercise. During control scanning, significant activation was recorded in areas associated with reward (caudate nucleus), motivation (orbitofrontal cortex) and visuo-spatial attention (parietal lobe, parahippocampal, and fusiform gyrus). Post-exercise scanning showed hypo-activation in these areas with a concomitant shift of activation towards areas identified in the 'brain default mode' (Broadmanns Area 10).
conclusionThe study confirms previous evidence that a single session of exercise can reduce cigarette cravings, and for the first time provides evidence of a shift in regional activation in response to smoking cues.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.