TY  - JOUR
A1  - Wu, Lingdan
A1  - Winkler, Markus H.
A1  - Wieser, Matthias J.
A1  - Andreatta, Marta
A1  - Li, Yonghui
A1  - Pauli, Paul
T1  - Emotion regulation in heavy smokers: experiential, expressive and physiological consequences of cognitive reappraisal
JF  - Frontiers in Psychology
N2  - Emotion regulation dysfunctions are assumed to contribute to the development of tobacco addiction and relapses among smokers attempting to quit. To further examine this hypothesis, the present study compared heavy smokers with non-smokers (NS) in a reappraisal task. Specifically, we investigated whether non-deprived smokers (NDS) and deprived smokers (DS) differ from non-smokers in cognitive emotion regulation and whether there is an association between the outcome of emotion regulation and the cigarette craving. Sixty-five participants (23 non-smokers, 22 NDS, and 20 DS) were instructed to down-regulate emotions by reappraising negative or positive pictorial scenarios. Self-ratings of valence, arousal, and cigarette craving as well as facial electromyography and electroencephalograph activities were measured. Ratings, facial electromyography, and electroencephalograph data indicated that both NDS and DS performed comparably to nonsmokers in regulating emotional responses via reappraisal, irrespective of the valence of pictorial stimuli. Interestingly, changes in cigarette craving were positively associated with regulation of emotional arousal irrespective of emotional valence. These results suggest that heavy smokers are capable to regulate emotion via deliberate reappraisal and smokers' cigarette craving is associated with emotional arousal rather than emotional valence. This study provides preliminary support for the therapeutic use of reappraisal to replace maladaptive emotion-regulation strategies in nicotine addicts.
KW  - negative affect
KW  - regulation strategies
KW  - positive emotions
KW  - craving
KW  - late positive potential
KW  - nicotine addiction
KW  - smoking
KW  - emotion regulation
KW  - reappraisal
KW  - facial electromyography
KW  - brain reactivity
KW  - down regulation
KW  - unpleasant pictures
KW  - anxiety sensitivity
KW  - facial expressions
KW  - cigarette smokers
KW  - smoking motives
Y1  - 2015
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-145225
VL  - 6
IS  - 1555
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Stippekohl, Bastian
A1  - Winkler, Markus H.
A1  - Walter, Bertram
A1  - Kagerer, Sabine
A1  - Mucha, Ronald F.
A1  - Pauli, Paul
A1  - Vaitl, Dieter
A1  - Stark, Rudolf
T1  - Neural Responses to Smoking Stimuli Are Influenced by Smokers' Attitudes towards Their Own Smoking Behaviour
JF  - PLoS One
N2  - An important feature of addiction is the high drug craving that may promote the continuation of consumption. Environmental stimuli classically conditioned to drug-intake have a strong motivational power for addicts and can elicit craving. However, addicts differ in the attitudes towards their own consumption behavior: some are content with drug taking (consonant users) whereas others are discontent (dissonant users). Such differences may be important for clinical practice because the experience of dissonance might enhance the likelihood to consider treatment. This fMRI study investigated in smokers whether these different attitudes influence subjective and neural responses to smoking stimuli. Based on self-characterization, smokers were divided into consonant and dissonant smokers. These two groups were presented smoking stimuli and neutral stimuli. Former studies have suggested differences in the impact of smoking stimuli depending on the temporal stage of the smoking ritual they are associated with. Therefore, we used stimuli associated with the beginning (BEGIN-smoking-stimuli) and stimuli associated with the terminal stage (END-smoking-stimuli) of the smoking ritual as distinct stimulus categories. Stimulus ratings did not differ between both groups. Brain data showed that BEGIN-smoking-stimuli led to enhanced mesolimbic responses (amygdala, hippocampus, insula) in dissonant compared to consonant smokers. In response to END-smoking-stimuli, dissonant smokers showed reduced mesocortical responses (orbitofrontal cortex, subcallosal cortex) compared to consonant smokers. These results suggest that smoking stimuli with a high incentive value (BEGIN-smoking-stimuli) are more appetitive for dissonant than consonant smokers at least on the neural level. To the contrary, smoking stimuli with low incentive value (END-smoking-stimuli) seem to be less appetitive for dissonant smokers than consonant smokers. These differences might be one reason why dissonant smokers experience difficulties in translating their attitudes into an actual behavior change.
KW  - smoking habits
KW  - addiction
KW  - amygdala
KW  - behavioral addiction
KW  - addicts
KW  - nicotine addiction
KW  - drug research and development
KW  - drug addiction
Y1  - 2012
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-124393
VL  - 7
IS  - 11
ER  -