Exploring Neural Correlates of Different Dimensions in Drug Craving Self-Reports Among Heroin Dependents

introduction: drug craving could be described as a motivational state which drives drugdependents towards drug seeking and use. different types of self-reports such as craving feeling,desire and intention, wanting and need, imagery of use, and negative affect have been attributedto this motivational state. by using subjective self-reports for different correlates of drug cravingalong with functional neuroimaging with cue exposure paradigm, we investigated the brainregions that could correspond to different dimensions of subjective reports for heroin craving. methods: a total of 25 crystalline-heroin smokers underwent functional magnetic resonanceimaging (fmri), while viewing heroin-related and neutral cues presented in a block-design task.during trial intervals, subjects verbally reported their subjective feeling of cue induced craving(cic). after fmri procedure, participants reported the intensity of their “need for drug use”and “drug use imagination” on a 0-100 visual analog scale (vas). afterwards, they completedpositive and negative affect scale (panas) and desire for drug questionnaire (ddq) with 3components of “desire and intention to drug use,” “negative reinforcement,” and “loss of control.” results: the study showed significant correlation between “subjective feeling of craving” andactivation of the left and right anterior cingulate cortex, as well as right medial frontal gyrus.furthermore, the “desire and intention to drug use” was correlated with activation of the leftprecentral gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus, and left middle frontal gyrus. subjects also exhibitedsignificant correlation between the “need for drug use” and activation of the right inferiortemporal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, and right parahippocampal gyrus. correlationbetween subjective report of “heroin use imagination” and activation of the cerebellar vermis wasalso observed. another significant correlation was between the “negative affect” and activationof the left precuneus, right putamen, and right middle temporal gyrus. discussion: this preliminary study proposes different neural correlates for various dimensionsof subjective craving self-reports. it could reflect multidimensionality of cognitive functionscorresponding with drug craving. these cognitive functions could represent their motivationaland affective outcomes in a single item “subjective craving feeling” or in self-reports withmultiple dissociable items, such as intention, need, imagination, or negative feeling. the newpsychological models of drug craving for covering various dimensions of subjective cravingself-reports based on their neurocognitive correspondence could potentially modify cravingassessments in addiction medicine.