Trial reportPsychopharmacology2012
The effects of exercise on cigarette cravings and brain activation in response to smoking-related images.
Trial report in Psychopharmacology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 4 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
21 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of exercise intervention on tobacco dependence: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled 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
- 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 acute exercise on tobacco cravings and withdrawal symptoms in temporary abstinent pregnant smokers.Addictive behaviors · 2014Trial
- Exercise-based interventions for smoking cessation: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of sport and health science · 2026Review
- Rewiring the Addicted Brain Through a Psychobiological Model of Physical Exercise.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2019Review
- New steps for treating alcohol use disorder: the emerging importance of physical exercise.Psychopharmacology · 2018Article
- Article
- Exercise Strengthens Central Nervous System Modulation of Pain in Fibromyalgia.Brain sciences · 2016Article
- Neural substrates of cue reactivity: association with treatment outcomes and relapse.Addiction biology · 2016Review
- Cocaine-conditioned odor cues without chronic exposure: Implications for the development of addiction vulnerability.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2015Article
- Integrating ecological momentary assessment and functional brain imaging methods: new avenues for studying and treating tobacco dependence.Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco · 2014Review
- Reducing substance use during adolescence: a translational framework for prevention.Psychopharmacology · 2014Review
- Paradise Lost: The relationships between neurological and psychological changes in nicotine-dependent patients.Addiction research & theory · 2014Article
- Probing smoking craving with a multidimensional approach: validation of the 12-item French-language version of the Questionnaire on Smoking Urges.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2014Article
- Treatment approaches for interoceptive dysfunctions in drug addiction.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2013Review
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.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
rationaleSmokers show heightened activation toward smoking-related stimuli and experience increased cravings which can precipitate smoking cessation relapse. Exercise can be effective for modulating cigarette cravings and attenuating reactivity to smoking cues, but the mechanism by which these effects occur remains uncertain.
objectiveThe objective of the study was to assess the effect of exercise on regional brain activation in response to smoking-related images during temporary nicotine abstinence.
methodsIn a randomised crossover design, overnight abstinent smokers (n = 20) underwent an exercise (10-min moderate-intensity stationary cycling) and passive control (seating for the same duration) treatment, following 15 h of nicotine abstinence. After each treatment, participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scanning while viewing a random series of blocked smoking or neutral images. Self-reported cravings were assessed at baseline, mid-, and post-treatments.
resultsThere was a significant interaction effect (treatment × time) for desire to smoke, F (2,32) = 12.5, p < 0.001, with significantly lower scores following the exercise at all time points compared with the control treatment. After both exercise and rest, significant areas of activation were found in areas of the limbic lobe and in areas associated with visual attention in response to smoking-related stimuli. Smokers showed increased activation to smoking images in areas associated with primary and secondary visual processing following rest, but not following a session of exercise.
conclusionThe study shows differing activation towards smoking images following exercise compared to a control treatment and may point to a neuro-cognitive process following exercise that mediates effects on cigarette cravings.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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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.