Resting-state neural circuit correlates of negative urgency: a comparison between tobacco users and non-tobacco users

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Negative urgency, defined as a tendency to act rashly under extreme negative emotion, is strongly associated with tobacco use. Despite the robust cross-sectional and experimental evidence linking negative urgency and tobacco use, neural correlates of negative urgency in tobacco use have not been studied. The purpose of the current study was to 1) identify neural circuits that differ between tobacco users and non-tobacco users and 2) explore the relationship between resting-state seed-based functional connectivity (rsFC) and negative urgency, both in the overall group and between tobacco users and non-tobacco users. Using negative urgency-related brain regions as seed regions (voxel level p = .005, cluster-level a < .05), compared to non-tobacco users (n = 21; mean age = 36.57, 62% female, 76% white), tobacco users (n = 22; mean age = 37.50, 64% female, 77% white) had stronger rsFC strengths in the right amygdala – left medial orbitofrontal cortex/ventromedial prefrontal cortex circuit and the right nucleus accumbens – right temporoparietal junction circuit. Additionally, rsFC in the bilateral temporal pole – left supramarginal gyrus circuits was positively correlated with negative urgency (Left temporal pole: r = .55, p < .001; Right temporal pole: r = .51, p < .001). The current study extends previous neuroimaging findings, which have mainly focused on how negative urgency is related to brain responses in localized, segregated brain regions, by examining the network-level interactions between different brain regions. This study provides prime preliminary data for future neuroimaging studies of negative urgency by providing potential target networks that would aid the development of novel intervention strategies for negative urgency-based maladaptive behaviors