The sight of actors smoking cigarettes in the movies activates regions in smokers’ brains responsible for interpreting and planning hand movements – as if they were going to smoke themselves, US scientists report in The Journal of Neuroscience.
Heavy smokers repeat the same characteristic hand movements several or even several times a day. Todd Heatherton and Dylan Wagner of Dartmouth College decided to check whether the parts of the brain that control the routine movements and gestures (associated with smoking) could be activated by seeing another person smoking.
For their project, researchers analyzed the brain activity of 17 smokers and 17 non-smokers while watching the first 30 minutes of Matchstick Men. Researchers chose this particular movie because it is full of scenes of smoking, but it does not show drinking alcohol, violence or erotic scenes.
The volunteers participating in the study were not informed that they were concerned with smoking. While watching the scenes of smoking cigarettes in smokers, the regions of the brain responsible for planning hand movements usually used during smoking were activated.
Scientists have observed that watching Hollywood actors smoke cigarettes in movies triggers a response in the smoker’s brain that activates the regions necessary to plan the movements that make it possible to smoke a cigarette. Now, scientists intend to investigate whether the brains of people who quit smoking show a similar reaction.
The authors of the study emphasize that people who quit smoking often try to avoid smokers, but they do not necessarily realize that actors watched on the screen of cinemas or televisions have a similar effect on them. The results of the research clearly indicate that they should also avoid this type of stimulation. (PAP)