Nicotine addiction among teens can inhibit brain activity, researchers find

By Staff Writer

A new report by UCLA researchers indicates that problem teens who smoke cigarettes can experience problems with brain functioning.

The study, which appears in the online journal Neuropsychopharmacology, included 25 smokers and 25 non-smokers between the ages of 15 and 21 years old. They were administered a test called the Stop-Signal Task (SST), which involved pressing a button as quickly as possible when they saw a lighted arrow.

However, if an auditory tone was played, they were asked not to press the button when an arrow appeared. Using magnetic resonance imaging, researchers were able to monitor the teens' brain activity.

In addition, the team used the Heaviness of Smoking Index to determine the level of nicotine dependence among the young smokers. Although the SST results showed little difference between the smokers and non-smokers, the scientists found that the teens who were addicted to nicotine had less activity in the prefrontal cortex of their brains.

Although this did not effect their performance on the SST, a damaged prefrontal cortex has been linked with poor decision-making among teens.