Insula in cigarette smoking

Science 26 January 2007: Vol. 315. no. 5811, pp. 531 - 534 DOI: 10.1126/science.1135926

Reports

Damage to the Insula Disrupts Addiction to Cigarette Smoking

Nasir H. Naqvi,¹ David Rudrauf,^1,2 Hanna Damasio,^3,4 Antoine Bechara^1,3,4*

A number of brain systems have been implicated in addictive behavior, but none have yet been shown to be necessary for maintaining the addiction to cigarette smoking. We found that smokers with brain damage involving the insula, a region implicated in conscious urges, were more likely than smokers with brain damage not involving the insula to undergo a disruption of smoking addiction, characterized by the ability to quit smoking easily, immediately, without relapse, and without persistence of the urge to smoke. This result suggests that the insula is a critical neural substrate in the addiction to smoking.

¹ Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
² Laboratory of Computational Neuroimaging, Department of Neurology, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
³ Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center, SGM 501, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
⁴ Brain and Creativity Institute, HNB B26, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.