# Neural mechanisms mediating appetitive regulation and smoking in nicotine addiction

> **NIH NIH R01** · MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA · 2020 · $67,770

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Nicotine addiction is a manifold process involving dysregulated brain circuitry subserving reward and motivation
(i.e. corticostriatal). Despite extant cross-species models in the literature, there is a gap in the human literature
concerning the role of corticostriatal pathways that regulate appetitive processes, whether cognitive training may
restructure circuitry function, and whether neuroplasticity in self-regulatory mechanisms alter appetitive
behaviors, in particular cigarette smoking. Preliminary data from our laboratory provide initial support for our
published model positing that cognitive control training via Mindfulness Oriented Recovery Enhancement
(MORE), to enhance valuation of non-drug related reward relative to drug reward may remediate maladaptive
appetitive behaviors, craving, and affective deficits by restructuring reward processing. The goal of this proposal
is to examine the effects of MORE on corticostriatal mediated regulation of appetitive responding and smoking.
Smokers (N=100) will be randomized to 4-weeks of MORE or CBT, undergo fMRI pre/post training, complete a
laboratory-based smoking relapse analog task, and be followed for 2-weeks to assess relations between neural
function, lab behavior and real-world smoking.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9932363
- **Project number:** 5R01DA048094-02
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
- **Principal Investigator:** Brett Froeliger
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $67,770
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-01 → 2020-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9932363

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9932363, Neural mechanisms mediating appetitive regulation and smoking in nicotine addiction (5R01DA048094-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9932363. Licensed CC0.

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