Restructuring Reward Mechanisms in Nicotine Addiction: A Pilot fMRI Study of Mindfulness‐Oriented Recovery Enhancement for Cigarette Smokers

Abstract

The primary goal of this pilot feasibility study was to examine the effects of Mindfulness‐Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE), a behavioral treatment grounded in dual‐process models derived from cognitive science, on frontostriatal reward processes among cigarette smokers. Healthy adult (N = 13; mean (SD) age 49 ± 12.2) smokers provided informed consent to participate in a 10‐week study testing MORE versus a comparison group (CG). All participants underwent two fMRI scans: pre‐tx and after 8‐weeks of MORE. Emotion regulation (ER), smoking cue reactivity (CR), and resting‐state functional connectivity (rsFC) were assessed at each fMRI visit; smoking and mood were assessed throughout. As compared to the CG, MORE significantly reduced smoking (d = 2.06) and increased positive affect (d = 2.02). MORE participants evidenced decreased CR‐BOLD response in ventral striatum (VS; d = 1.57) and ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC; d = 1.7) and increased positive ER‐BOLD in VS (dVS = 2.13) and vPFC (dvmPFC = 2.66). Importantly, ER was correlated with smoking reduction (r’s = .68 to .91) and increased positive affect (r’s = .52 to .61). These findings provide preliminary evidence that MORE may facilitate the restructuring of reward processes and play a role in treating the pathophysiology of nicotine addiction.