Cigarette smoking leads to persistent and dose-dependent alterations of brain activity and connectivity in anterior insula and anterior cingulate

Although many smokers try to quit smoking, only about 20–25 percent will achieve abstinence despite 6 months or more of gold-standard treatment. This low success rate suggests long-term changes in the brain related to smoking, which remain poorly understood. We compared ex-smokers to both active smokers and non-smokers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore persistent modifications in brain activity and network...