Teenage smoking can cause reduced brain activity and could lead to poor decision-making. These were the findings released by a team from the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA led by Professor Edythe London, together with researchers from the University of Texas.
The team formed a group of 50 members aged 15 to 21. Among the group, 25 were non-smokers and another 25 were smokers. Their smoking habit was measured according to their own Heaviness of Smoking Index (HIS) which the team used for their own study. The HIS indicates the amount of cigarettes used up by the individual and at what period he or she begins smoking each day.
These participants were made to perform under the Stop-Signal Task (SST) test, wherein each person is subjected to a push-the-button activity. It may be funny when viewed from the outside but the test has its own way of determining an individual’s brain activity. The data gathered from the SST showed that the more a teen smokes, the lesser brain activity is registered via the pre-frontal cortex; the part of the brain involved in decision-making.
While it may be true that the test data difference between a non-smoker and smoker does not differ so much (close actually), it suggests that brain activity or response of smokers may have been compensated by other parts of the brain instead of having the prefrontal cortex perform the said action on its own, like in the case of non-smokers.
The researchers say that it would be wise for teens to stay away from the smoking habit. It may be that more aggravated symptoms may manifest later in life if they begin smoking at very early ages.
Tags: early smoking, teen smoking, teen tobacco abuse, teenage smoking, teenage tobacco
