Craving-induced EEG reactivity in smokers: effects of mood induction, nicotine dependence and gender.

Background/aims: Cigarette craving is a core symptom of smoking withdrawal, which is more intense and more frequently observed in smokers with depressed mood. Using self-reports and electroencephalographic (EEG) indices of frontal hemispheric asymmetry, which has been shown to be sensitive to mood states, the purpose of this study was to investigate the neural basis of cue-elicited cigarette craving, its variation with experimentally induced depressed mood, and with differences in gender and smoker type.

Methods: Cigarette-cue reactivity was examined in 11 (5 male) regular and 11 (6 male) light smokers in two sessions involving the induction of neutral or depressed mood.