AMBITION? –

March 8, 2023 – Craving is a strong desire to use drugs or eat. It has long been considered a key factor driving substance abuse and overeating. It is one of the criteria used for diagnosing substance use disorders. Craving is often induced by exposure to certain stimuli. In the case of overeating, these include the smell or sight of food. In the case of drugs, craving can be induced by one being in places or situations he/she associates with taking drugs or being offered drugs. This is called cue-induced craving. 

Earlier studies of craving have successfully relied on self-reported craving, but recent research has focused on discovering its biological basis. Human neuroimaging studies have identified neural circuits related to the risk of substance abuse. Some brain circuits have been found to be involved in different substance use disorders and risky behaviors. These include specific parts of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), ventral striatal/nucleus accumbens (VS/NAc) and insula regions of the brain. These regions also appear to play a role in weight gain and obesity.

However, just identifying areas of the brain that show distinct activity in certain situations is not enough to infer subjective feelings (such as craving) from brain activity. Studies have shown that neural activity related to specific mental states are distributed across different regions of the brain. That is why attempts are made to create mathematical models that integrate activities of diverse brain regions to allow inferences about mental states and health outcomes with larger degrees of accuracy. Such models are called neuromarkers.

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