homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Smokers who were lied that their cigarettes had zero nicotine also had their brains tricked

It's amazing how deception can fool even one of the strongest physical addictions.

Tibi Puiu
September 13, 2016 @ 5:46 pm

share Share

smoking nicotine

Credit: Pixabay

Researchers from the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas have come across an interesting quirk of the mind. They rounded up a bunch of smokers and told some of them that the cigarettes they were holding lack any trace of nicotine. This was a lie, these were normal cigarettes. Oddly enough, the smokers didn’t satisfy their nicotine craving like they normally would have, which raises some interesting speculations about the nature of so-called physical addiction and its relation to the psyche, particularly the power of suggestion.

Substance craving depends on belief, the study finds

The team enlisted only nicotine addicts for their study. Over the course of four visits, each participant was twice given a nicotine cigarette and twice a placebo. Half the time they would visit the researchers, the participants were lied to. More plainly, the four conditions were:

  • Believes the cigarette contains nicotine but receives placebo.
  • Believes the cigarette does not contain nicotine but receives a nicotine cigarette.
  • Believes the cigarette contains nicotine and receives nicotine.
  • Believes the cigarette does not contain nicotine and receives placebo.

After having the smoke, participants were asked to complete a learning task while their brain was scanned with an fMRI. Specifically, the researchers were interested in tracking activity in the insula cortex, which is involved in a wide range of brain functions like bodily perception and self-awareness. The insula cortex is, however, also were drug cravings and addiction manifest themselves.

The participants were also asked to self-report the level of nicotine craving before smoking and after completing the task.

 Smokers showed significant ventral anterior insula activation and post-smoking craving only when they were told “nicotine in cigarette” and smoked nicotine but not in other conditions. Credit: Frontiers of Psychiatry.

Smokers showed significant ventral anterior insula activation and post-smoking craving only when they were told “nicotine in cigarette” and smoked nicotine but not in other conditions. Credit: Frontiers of Psychiatry.

Findings suggest that those participants who smoked a nicotine cigarette and were convinced they had the ‘real deal’ displayed both craving and learning signals. Smoking nicotine, but believing it was fake, did not deliver the same results, though.

It is worth noting that belief selectively modulated subjective craving and insula activation, but not learning-related behavior

“These results suggest that for drugs to have an effect on a person, he or she needs to believe that the drug is present,” said Dr. Xiaosi Gu, assistant professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and the study‘s lead author.

“We show that in deprived smokers, belief about nicotine modulates subjective craving and activity in neural structures that process interoceptive information such as the insular cortex. These results provide compelling evidence supporting a strong influence of beliefs to counter drug effects on craving and addiction, as well as insights into the mechanisms of cognitive treatments for addiction,” the team wrote.

share Share

A Brain Implant Just Turned a Woman’s Thoughts Into Speech in Near Real Time

This tech restores speech in real time for people who can’t talk, using only brain signals.

Using screens in bed increases insomnia risk by 59% — but social media isn’t the worst offender

Forget blue light, the real reason screens disrupt sleep may be simpler than experts thought.

We Should Start Worrying About Space Piracy. Here's Why This Could be A Big Deal

“We are arguing that it’s already started," say experts.

An Experimental Drug Just Slashed Genetic Heart Risk by 94%

One in 10 people carry this genetic heart risk. There's never been a treatment — until now.

We’re Getting Very Close to a Birth Control Pill for Men

Scientists may have just cracked the code for male birth control.

A New Antibiotic Was Hiding in Backyard Dirt and It Might Save Millions

A new antibiotic works when others fail.

Researchers Wake Up Algae That Went Dormant Before the First Pyramids

Scientists have revived 7,000-year-old algae from Baltic Sea sediments, pushing the limits of resurrection ecology.

A Fossil So Strange Scientists Think It’s From a Completely New Form of Life

This towering mystery fossil baffled scientists for 180 Years and it just got weirder.

ChatGPT Seems To Be Shifting to the Right. What Does That Even Mean?

ChatGPT doesn't have any political agenda but some unknown factor is causing a subtle shift in its responses.

This Freshwater Fish Can Live Over 120 Years and Shows No Signs of Aging. But It Has a Problem

An ancient freshwater species may be quietly facing a silent collapse.