Stephen Wilson
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Psychology
Most attempts to quit smoking end in relapse, and the biggest threat is a lapse, meaning any cigarette smoked during a quit attempt. Understanding what goes on in the mind and brain in the moments just before a lapse could help prevent relapse.
- Fields
Psychology
Neuroscience
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
smoking cessation
smoking lapse
relapse
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Examine whether moment-to-moment changes in how separated the default mode and executive control networks are predict the risk of a smoking lapse, using an fMRI lapse task in adults after 12 hours without nicotine.
- Relate changing brain network dynamics to self-reported mood in the minutes before a smoking lapse, during an in-scanner period of resisting cigarettes.
- Test whether brain network dynamics just before a lapse predict how rewarding the cigarette smoking that follows is, measured in a free-smoking session after the scan.
- Explore which factors change the link between brain network dynamics and lapse-related outcomes in adults who smoke.
More about the research
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tracks brain activity over time. Until now, though, methods have not captured the critical minutes right before someone gives in.
Why it matters
Cigarette smoking is one of the leading preventable causes of death and disease worldwide. Many people trying to quit fail because of lapses. Identifying the brain and psychological changes that come just before a lapse could build a foundation for more effective strategies to help smokers stay quit.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Dina Jones
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Public Health & Epidemiology·Early-career
Define how momentary negative mood and nicotine craving relate to smoking lapse within individuals, using phone-based ecological momentary assessment in up to 150 adults who smoke menthol cigarettes during a planned quit attempt.
Heather Shappell
Wake Forest University, NC·Mathematics & Statistics·Early-career
Develop a unified statistical framework that estimates whole-brain functional networks from fMRI and how those networks change over seconds to minutes during a scan.
Paul Laurienti
Wake Forest University, NC·Neuroscience
Determine how nicotine vaping changes brain structure, function, blood flow and connectivity in adolescents, imaging 360 current vapers and never tobacco users twice, 18 months apart.
The school
Pennsylvania State University: 60 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 743 research doctorates a year.
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