ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2020
Nicotine dependence (trait) and acute nicotinic stimulation (state) modulate attention but not inhibitory control: converging fMRI evidence from Go-Nogo and Flanker tasks.
Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neural correlates of impulsivity in bipolar disorder: A systematic review and clinical implications.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Pooled it
- Distinct patterns of prefrontal cortical disengagement during inhibitory control in addiction: A meta-analysis based on population characteristics.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2021Pooled it
- Short-term nicotine deprivation alters dorsal anterior cingulate glutamate concentration and concomitant cingulate-cortical functional connectivity.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Trial
- Nicotine self-administration increases impulsive action: differential effects of nAChR modulators in a Go/No-Go task.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Altered Regional Brain Activity Underlying the Higher Postoperative Analgesic Requirements in Abstinent Smokers: A Prospective Cohort Study.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- Differential effects of nAChR modulators on impulsive action in a nicotine self-administration Go/No-Go task in rats.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- White matter lesions associated with the reemergence of grasp reflexes in patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus.Fluids and barriers of the CNS · 2025Article
- Hierarchical Organization of Bilateral Prefrontal-Basal Ganglia Circuits for Response Inhibition Control.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Changes in distinct brain systems identified with fMRI during smoking cessation treatment with varenicline: a review.Psychopharmacology · 2024Review
- Modulation of smoker brain activity and functional connectivity by tDCS: A go/no-go task-state fMRI study.Heliyon · 2023Article
- Prepared and reactive inhibition in smokers and non-smokers.Behavioural brain research · 2023Article
- Not all smokers are alike: the hidden cost of sustained attention during nicotine abstinence.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Time-Varying Functional Connectivity Decreases as a Function of Acute Nicotine Abstinence.Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging · 2021Article
- Monetary Reward Discounting, Inhibitory Control, and Trait Impulsivity in Young Adults With Internet Gaming Disorder and Nicotine Dependence.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Associations Between Smoking Abstinence, Inhibitory Control, and Smoking Behavior: An fMRI Study.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Independent and Combined Effects of Nicotine or Chronic Tobacco Smoking and HIV on the Brain: A Review of Preclinical and Clinical Studies.Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Cognitive deficits during nicotine withdrawal may contribute to smoking relapse. However, interacting effects of chronic nicotine dependence and acute nicotine withdrawal on cognitive control are poorly understood. Here we examine the effects of nicotine dependence (trait; smokers (n = 24) vs. non-smoking controls; n = 20) and acute nicotinic stimulation (state; administration of nicotine and varenicline, two FDA-approved smoking cessation aids, during abstinence), on two well-established tests of inhibitory control, the Go-Nogo task and the Flanker task, during fMRI scanning. We compared performance and neural responses between these four pharmacological manipulations in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design. As expected, performance in both tasks was modulated by nicotine dependence, abstinence, and pharmacological manipulation. However, effects were driven entirely by conditions that required less inhibitory control. When demand for inhibitory control was high, abstinent smokers showed no deficits. By contrast, acutely abstinent smokers showed performance deficits in easier conditions and missed more trials. Go-Nogo fMRI results showed decreased inhibition-related neural activity in right anterior insula and right putamen in smokers and decreased dorsal anterior cingulate cortex activity on nicotine across groups. No effects were found on inhibition-related activity during the Flanker task or on error-related activity in either task. Given robust nicotinic effects on physiology and behavioral deficits in attention, we are confident that pharmacological manipulations were effective. Thus findings fit a recent proposal that abstinent smokers show decreased ability to divert cognitive resources at low or intermediate cognitive demand, while performance at high cognitive demand remains relatively unaffected, suggesting a primary attentional deficit during acute abstinence.
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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.