Functional connectivity during feedback learning in smokers

Abstract

Background: Although it has been traditionally assumed that dysregulation of psychological processes in smokers results from activity within specific brain regions, an emerging view regards such dysregulation as attributable to aberrant communication between distinct brain regions. These processes can be measured during appropriate task paradigms such as the learning from errors task. This study aims to elucidate interactions between brain regions underlying the process of learning from errors, punishment and sensitivity to reward in dependent smokers. Methods: Functional MRI data from 23 age-matched dependent smokers (8 females, mean age = 25.48, SD = 4.46) and 23 controls (13 females, mean..