A brain signature of vaping cue-elicited craving
Abstract
E-cigarette use among young adults has grown rapidly, raising concerns about nicotine dependence and motivating a better understanding of the neurobiology of vaping. We used a cue-induced craving fMRI paradigm to develop and evaluate a brain signature of vaping cue-elicited craving, and to compare it with smoking– and food-craving signatures developed using the same analytic pipeline. Using LASSO–PCR with leave-one-subject-out cross-validation, we identified a distributed pattern of brain activity that reliably predicted normative vaping craving from an independent sample (hereafter, normative craving). The vaping-craving signature was also substantially distinct from smoking– and food-craving signatures, both spatially and functionally, and showed specificity relative to previously established craving signatures. Moreover, greater signature expression was associated with greater e-cigarette dependence severity and showed a positive, though modest, prospective association with daily puff counts over four weeks, demonstrating the signature’s behavioral and clinical relevance. Together, these findings establish a cross-validated brain signature of vaping cue-elicited craving, demonstrate its differentiation from other craving-related neural patterns, and link its expression to e-cigarette dependence and real-world use. More broadly, they support the potential of this framework for developing reproducible neural markers of craving. Significant statement Craving is a basic human experience, but also a powerful engine for addiction. Although vaping has become a common form of nicotine use, we still know little about vaping-specific craving. Craving is currently measured mostly through self-report, which is prone to bias. Using neuroimaging and machine learning, we identified a brain signature that tracks e-cigarette dependence and predicts cue-related craving tendencies. This signature captures vaping-specific craving above and beyond a previously established domain-general signature of craving, and is distinct from brain-based signatures of food and cigarette craving. These findings highlight a distinct neural representation for vaping craving and provide a new and generalizable brain-based measure for predicting vaping dependence.
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BibTeX
@misc{zhao2026brain,
title = {{A brain signature of vaping cue-elicited craving}},
author = {Shangcheng Zhao and Hongbo Yu and Leonie Koban and Yidi Wang and Qiyao Peng and Tianlai Ye and Michael Amlung and James Mackillop and Lawrence H Sweet and Jiaying Liu},
howpublished = {HAL},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.15.759290},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05844254v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A brain signature of vaping cue-elicited craving
AU - Shangcheng Zhao
AU - Hongbo Yu
AU - Leonie Koban
AU - Yidi Wang
AU - Qiyao Peng
AU - Tianlai Ye
AU - Michael Amlung
AU - James Mackillop
AU - Lawrence H Sweet
AU - Jiaying Liu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - HAL
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.15.759290
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05844254v1
AB - E-cigarette use among young adults has grown rapidly, raising concerns about nicotine dependence and motivating a better understanding of the neurobiology of vaping. We used a cue-induced craving fMRI paradigm to develop and evaluate a brain signature of vaping cue-elicited craving, and to compare it with smoking– and food-craving signatures developed using the same analytic pipeline. Using LASSO–PCR with leave-one-subject-out cross-validation, we identified a distributed pattern of brain activity that reliably predicted normative vaping craving from an independent sample (hereafter, normative craving). The vaping-craving signature was also substantially distinct from smoking– and food-craving signatures, both spatially and functionally, and showed specificity relative to previously established craving signatures. Moreover, greater signature expression was associated with greater e-cigarette dependence severity and showed a positive, though modest, prospective association with daily puff counts over four weeks, demonstrating the signature’s behavioral and clinical relevance. Together, these findings establish a cross-validated brain signature of vaping cue-elicited craving, demonstrate its differentiation from other craving-related neural patterns, and link its expression to e-cigarette dependence and real-world use. More broadly, they support the potential of this framework for developing reproducible neural markers of craving. Significant statement Craving is a basic human experience, but also a powerful engine for addiction. Although vaping has become a common form of nicotine use, we still know little about vaping-specific craving. Craving is currently measured mostly through self-report, which is prone to bias. Using neuroimaging and machine learning, we identified a brain signature that tracks e-cigarette dependence and predicts cue-related craving tendencies. This signature captures vaping-specific craving above and beyond a previously established domain-general signature of craving, and is distinct from brain-based signatures of food and cigarette craving. These findings highlight a distinct neural representation for vaping craving and provide a new and generalizable brain-based measure for predicting vaping dependence.
ER -