Among current U.S. adult cigarette smokers, nearly 7 out of every 10 (68.8%) report that they want to quit completely. But we all know this much easier said than done. However, new research is pointing to new discoveries in the brain that may lead to smokers quitting for good.

Smoking and the Brain

Those who have tried to quit know the strenuous mental and physical discipline it takes. To resist the cravings and tolerate withdrawal headaches can be quite painful. But researchers have released a new study that suggests those who really want to quit are more mentally equipped to handle the challenge verses those who are not.

A new study published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, reveals deeper learning around the brain activity before and during the time a smoker wants to quit. Researchers performed fMRI scanning on participants one month before their quit date. Once they reached the date, smokers received nicotine patches and had a full evaluation with researchers over the coming 10 weeks monitoring any relapses they had.

Analyzing the brain activity of a group of 85 heavy smokers, which constitutes 10 cigarettes a day, using the fMRI method (functional magnetic resonance imaging). What they found is quite astonishing. Those who had stronger connections between two very specific regions of the brain —one for rewards and the other in controlling impulsive behavior— were more likely to be successful at giving up smoking for at least 10 weeks.

Much of the strategic thinking around the cessation of quitting smoking is centered around reward and discipline. From an obvious standpoint, this can be broken very easily. But never before have studies been able to identify neural markers or predictors connected to the end result of smokers quitting. 

In the study, those who did not relapse have a greater chance of not picking up the habit again. We know that when it comes to a nicotine addiction, the chance of beating it shows within the first month or two.

In an area of the brian, called the insula (a section that lies deep in the brain), was the identifier that helped smokers stay the course. Those with the most activity in the insula were the ones who went on to successfully quit weeks later.

Researchers are still unclear what aspect of the insula is resulting in this behavior, they predict it is acting like a bridge, acting as a connector between the reward region and the behavior control regions. This are of the brain has been linked to alcohol addiction as well.

Future of Treatment for Smokers 

Scientists hope these findings have opened up a gateway to a potential new way for doctors to predict if patients have strong connectivity around the insula region and if so, how to approach treatment around quitting smoking. Those who do could benefit from such neural therapies like neurofeedback or TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) to strengthen this important connectivity.

Is bribery a way to quit smoking?

Another study released this week around smoking, analyzed the effects of bribery on getting smokers to quit. A clinical trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine was the largest to date that tested whether financial incentives lead to a better outcome when it comes to quitting smoking.

Researchers used human decision making theories on 2500 study subjects. They found that offering incentives was very effective in getting smokers to quit when compared to the traditional approach of giving free smoking cessation help, such as counseling or nicotine replacement.

Even further, they required participants to put a $150 deposit down and they would not get back if they relapsed. They found that this factor nearly doubled the chance of smokers successfully quitting.