The effects of nicotine replacement on cognitive brain activity during smoking withdrawal studied with simultaneous fMRI/EEG.

Impaired attention ('difficulty concentrating') is a cognitive symptom of nicotine withdrawal that may be an important contributor to smoking relapse. However, the neurobiological basis of this effect and the potentially beneficial effects of nicotine replacement therapy both remain unclear. We used functional MRI with simultaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) recording to define brain activity correlates of cognitive impairment with short-term smoking cessation in habitual smokers and the effects of nicotine replacement.