From Smoking to Vaping: The Motivation for E-cigarette Use at the Neurobiological Level—A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study 

Introduction:
This text provides an overview of a study examining the motivational properties of e-cigarettes compared to tobacco cigarettes and money using an instrumental motivation task and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The study aimed to understand the neurobiological mechanisms that contribute to the addictive potential of e-cigarettes and their viability as a tool for smoking cessation.

Key Points:

* The study was part of the interdisciplinary research project "Evaluation of the Addictive Potential of E-Cigarettes" (EVAPE).
* Participants included e-cigarette users, nicotine-naïve controls, exclusive e-cigarette users, and dual users.
* An event-related instrumental motivation task was used in conjunction with fMRI to examine anticipatory brain activation to reward-predicting stimuli and the subsequent instrumental response to obtain each reward.
* The fMRI main run comprised 60 trials with a total duration of 15 minutes, and each trial was divided into three phases: anticipation, motor response, and feedback.
* Behavioral data were analyzed using SPSS, and fMRI data were analyzed using SPM12.
* Exclusive e-cigarette users showed greater anticipatory brain activation to e-liquid rewards compared to tobacco cigarettes, while dual users showed greater activation to money compared to e-liquid and tobacco cigarettes.
* The study suggests that e-cigarettes have a sufficiently high addictive potential to make them an attractive alternative for smokers, especially if they switch completely from tobacco to e-cigarettes.

Main Message:
The study highlights the importance of understanding the motivational properties of e-cigarettes, particularly in comparison to traditional tobacco products. The findings suggest that e-cigarettes have a high addictive potential, which may make them an effective tool for smoking cessation. However, this high addictive potential also poses a risk to nonsmokers. Therefore, it is crucial to balance the potential benefits of e-cigarettes for smokers with the need to protect nonsmokers from developing addiction.

Nadja Grundinger, Marike Andreas, Valerie Lohner, Sven Schneider, Ute Mons, Sabine Vollstädt-Klein, From Smoking to Vaping: The Motivation for E-cigarette Use at the Neurobiological Level—A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, Volume 27, Issue 7, July 2025, Pages 1236–1246, https://doi.org/10.1093/ntr/ntae273