The Neuroeconomics of Tobacco Demand: An Initial Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Cigarette Cost-Benefit Decision Making in Male Smokers

Joshua C Gray,Lawrence H Sweet,John Acker,Max Owens,James Mackillop,Michael T Amlung,Courtney L Brown,Gene H Brody

doi:10.1038/srep41930

Abstract

How the brain processes cigarette cost-benefit decision making remains largely unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this study investigated the neural correlates of decisions for cigarettes (0–10 cigarettes) at varying levels of price during a Cigarette Purchase Task (CPT) in male regular smokers (N = 35). Differential neural activity was examined between choices classified as inelastic, elastic, and suppressed demand, operationalized as consumption unaffected by cost, partially suppressed by cost, and entirely suppressed by cost, respectively. Decisions reflecting elastic demand, putatively the most effortful decisions, elicited greater activation in regions associated with inhibition and planning (e.g., middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus), craving and interoceptive processing (anterior insula), and conflict monitoring (e.g., anterior cingulate cortex). Exploratory examination in a harmonized dataset of both cigarette and alcohol demand (N = 59) suggested common neural activation patterns across commodities, particularly in the anterior insula, caudate, anterior cingulate, medial frontal gyrus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Collectively, these findings provide initial validation of a CPT fMRI paradigm; reveal the interplay of brain regions associated with executive functioning, incentive salience, and interoceptive processing in cigarette decision making; and add to the literature implicating the insula as a key brain region in addiction.

Highlights

The most comprehensive strategy for characterizing demand is demand curve analysis, which examines estimated consumption of a commodity across escalating prices[13]
This experiment used an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) Cigarette Purchase Task (CPT) paradigm in a sample of daily smokers to characterize differential neural activation during the three canonical periods of the demand curve
Behavioral performance on the CPT conformed to a prototypic demand curve (Fig. 1a) and behavioral choices following the trichotomization revealed the anticipated substantial differences (Fig. 1b)

Summary

Introduction

The most comprehensive strategy for characterizing demand is demand curve analysis, which examines estimated consumption of a commodity across escalating prices[13]. The goal of the current investigation was to extend this line of inquiry to the neural correlates of tobacco demand This experiment used an fMRI CPT paradigm in a sample of daily smokers to characterize differential neural activation during the three canonical periods of the demand curve (i.e., inelastic demand - choices unaffected by cost; elastic demand - choices partially affected by cost; and suppressed demand - choices completely affected by cost, meaning no cigarette consumption). As an exploratory aim, the study utilized a conjunction mask approach previously applied to the neural correlates of intertemporal choice[19] to compare the neural activation associated with cigarette demand to that of alcohol demand in the previous study[17] This exploratory aim sought to refine the characterization of the common neural profiles underlying demand decision making and address the extent to which the patterns of activation are commodity-specific

Objectives

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Results

Conclusion