Trial reportNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2019
Quitting starts in the brain: a randomized controlled trial of app-based mindfulness shows decreases in neural responses to smoking cues that predict reductions in smoking.
Trial report in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 6 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
32 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Biomarkers of Response to Internet-Based Psychological Interventions: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- The use of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for breast cancer patients-meta-analysis.BMC psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Neuroscience meets behavior: A systematic literature review on magnetic resonance imaging of the brain combined with real-world digital phenotyping.Human brain mapping · 2024Pooled it
- Do mindfulness-based interventions change brain function in people with substance dependence? A systematic review of the fMRI evidence.BMC psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Mindfulness for smoking cessation.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Smoking Cessation Apps: A Systematic Review of Format, Outcomes, and Features.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Mindful moms: acceptability and impact of co-designed and digitally delivered video meditations for pregnant and parenting women with opioid use disorder.Annals of medicine · 2025Trial
- Smoking Cessation Smartphone App for Nondaily Smoking With Telephone Onboarding: Proof-of-Concept Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Trial
- Cluster-based psychological phenotyping and differences in anxiety treatment outcomes.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Analyzing the Impact of Mobile App Engagement on Mental Health Outcomes: Secondary Analysis of the Unwinding Anxiety Program.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Trial
- Clinical Efficacy and Psychological Mechanisms of an App-Based Digital Therapeutic for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Trial
- The effects of mindfulness-based yogic breathing on craving, affect, and smoking behavior.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2020Trial
- Cue labeling reduces cigarette craving and associated neural activity.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction versus usual care in patients with breast cancer: a meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Defining and Engaging a Novel rTMS Target for Nicotine Craving in Psychotic Disorders.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Functional connectivity-related changes underlying mindfulness meditation for internet gaming disorder: a randomized clinical trial.Npj mental health research · 2025Article
- Neurobiological Changes Induced by Mindfulness and Meditation: A Systematic Review.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- Neuromodulation and mindfulness as therapeutic treatment in detoxified patients with alcohol use disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Dense Sampling Approaches for Psychiatry Research: Combining Scanners and Smartphones.Biological psychiatry · 2023Review
- Testing the Outcomes of a Smoking Cessation Smartphone App for Nondaily Smokers: Protocol for a Proof-of-concept Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Current treatments for smoking yield suboptimal outcomes, partly because of an inability to reduce cue-induced smoking. Mindfulness training (MT) has shown preliminary efficacy for smoking cessation, yet its neurobiological target remains unknown. Our prior work with nonsmokers indicates that MT reduces posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) activity. In individuals who smoke, the PCC, consistently a main hub of the "default mode network," activates in response to smoking cues. In this randomized controlled trial, we tested the effects of app-delivered MT on PCC reactivity to smoking cues and whether individual differences in MT-mediated PCC changes predicted smoking outcomes. Smoking cue-induced PCC reactivity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and 1 month after receiving smartphone app-based MT (n = 33) vs. an active control (National Cancer Institute's QuitGuide, n = 34). Whether individual differences in treatment-related changes in PCC activity predicted smoking behavior was assessed. The MT group demonstrated a significant correlation between a reduction in PCC reactivity to smoking cues and a decline in cigarette consumption (r = 0.39, p = 0.02). No association was found in the control group (r = 0.08, p = 0.65). No effects of group alone were found in PCC or cigarette reduction. Post hoc analysis revealed this association is sex specific (women, r = 0.49, p = 0.03; men: r = -0.08, p = 0.79). This initial report indicates that MT specifically reduces smoking cue-induced PCC activity in a subject-specific manner, and the reduction in PCC activity predicts a concurrent decline in smoking. These findings link the hypothesized behavioral effects of MT for smoking to neural mechanisms particularly in women. This lays the groundwork for identifying individuals who may benefit from targeted digital therapeutic treatments such as smartphone-based MT, yielding improved clinical outcomes.
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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.