Alpha Oscillations in Response to Affective and Cigarette-Related Stimuli in Smokers

Abstract

The presence of cigarette-related cues has been associated with smoking relapse. These cues are believed to activate brain mechanisms underlying emotion, attention, and memory. Electroencephalography (EEG) alpha desynchronization (i.e., reduction in alpha power) has been suggested to index the engagement of these mechanisms. Analyzing EEG alpha desynchronization in response to affective and smoking cues might improve our understanding of how smokers process these cues, and the potential impact of this processing on relapse.

Affective picture processing: Alpha‐ and lower beta‐band desynchronization reflects emotional arousal

“…However, findings are difficult to integrate because studies focus on different frequencies, time windows, and topographies, and variations in task instructions. For instance, the processing of emotionally arousing (pleasant and unpleasant) compared to neutral stimuli (i.e., words; Otten & Jonas, 2014), facial expression (Balconi & Mazza, 2009;Furl, Lohse, & Pizzorni-Ferrarese, 2017;Knyazev, Bocharov, Levin, Savostyanov, & Slobodskoj-Plusnin, 2008;Popov, Miller, Rockstroh, & Weisz, 2013;Popov, Steffen, Weisz, Miller, & Rockstroh, 2012;Schneider et al, 2018), and images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) library (Cui et al, 2013;de Cesarei & Codispoti, 2011;Meng et al, 2016;Mennella et al, 2017) were often associated with a decrease in alpha power caused by an event-related desynchronization (ERD). However, these findings contrast with results from studies that reported an increase rather than decrease in alpha power for emotionally significant stimuli (Aftanas, Reva, Varlamov, Pavlov, & Makhnev, 2004;Aftanas, Varlamov, Pavlov, Makhnev, & Reva, 2002;Güntekin & Başar, 2007;Uusberg, Uibo, Kreegipuu, & Allik, 2013).…”

Effects of blockade of α4β2 and α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine-seeking behaviour in rats

“…Smoking-related cues (e.g. the visual and olfactory stimuli associated with each puff) elicit subjective states that can trigger smoking and nicotine-seeking behaviour (Caggiula et al, 2001; Carter and Tiffany, 1999; Conklin et al, 2008; Cui et al, 2013; Garcia-Rodriguez et al, 2012; Gass et al, 2012; Miranda et al, 2008; Niaura et al, 1988; O′Brien et al, 1998; Parker and Gilbert, 2008; Rose, 2006; Tong et al, 2007; Winkler et al, 2011; Zhou et al, 2009). Accumulating data from animal studies have demonstrated a significant contribution of nicotine-associated cues to the resumption of nicotine-seeking behaviour (Abdolahi et al, 2010; Chiamulera et al, 2010; Cohen et al, 2005; Feltenstein et al, 2012; Fowler and Kenny, 2011; LeSage et al, 2004; Liu, 2010; Liu et al, 2006, 2008; Paterson et al, 2005; Shaham et al, 1997).…”

Reinforcement sensitivity underlying treatment-seeking smokers’ affect, smoking reinforcement motives, and affective responses.

“…The EEG assessment included a baseline resting assessment (being reported here) and a picture- viewing task, the latter of which has been previously reported (Cui et al, 2013; Versace et al, 2011). During the baseline, there were two "eyes closed" periods and two "eyes open" periods for each participant with each period lasting one minute.…”

“…Each 1-min segment was further divided into 117 2-s subsegments with 1.5-s overlaps between two consecutive subsegments to account for the data loss resulted from the use of the Hamming window function (Coan & Allen, 2003). Artifacts were defined with various criteria, such as exceeding the maximum or minimum allowed amplitudes, the details of which were reported previously (Cui et al, 2013; Versace et al, 2011). If more than 10% of the channels in an epoch were marked as containing artifacts, the epoch was deleted from future averaging.…”