Gaznick Natassia, Bechara Antoine, Tranel Daniel
a Department of Neurology, Division of Behavioral Neurology and Cognitive Neuroscience , Tranel Lab, University of Iowa , Iowa City , IA , USA.
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol. 2014;36(5):551-8. doi: 10.1080/13803395.2014.915012.
Patterns of smoking behavior vary between the sexes. There is evidence that decision making, which is one of the key "executive functions" necessary for making life-style modifications such as smoking cessation, is relatively lateralized to the right hemisphere in males and left hemisphere in females. In the current study, we examined whether the side of brain lesion has a differential effect on smoking behavior between the sexes. We hypothesized sex differences in smoking cessation based on lesion side. Participants were 49 males and 50 females who were smoking at the time of lesion onset. The outcome variable was abstinence from smoking (quit rate) at least one year post lesion. We found that in patients with left-hemisphere damage, quit rates were significantly higher in males than in females; however, in patients with right-hemisphere damage, quit rates were not statistically different. The findings support previous cognitive neuroscience literature showing that components of behavior responsible for maintaining addiction tend to be more strongly lateralized in males, whereas in females there is a more bilateral distribution. Our study provides further evidence for differences in lateralization of complex behavior between the sexes, which has significant implications for differences in treatment strategies between the sexes.
吸烟行为模式在男女之间存在差异。有证据表明，决策作为做出诸如戒烟等生活方式改变所必需的关键“执行功能”之一，在男性中相对偏向于右脑半球，而在女性中则偏向于左脑半球。在本研究中，我们考察了脑损伤的部位对男女吸烟行为是否有不同影响。我们基于损伤部位推测戒烟存在性别差异。研究参与者为49名男性和50名女性，他们在脑损伤发作时正在吸烟。结果变量是损伤后至少一年的戒烟情况（戒烟率）。我们发现，在左脑半球受损的患者中，男性的戒烟率显著高于女性；然而，在右脑半球受损的患者中，戒烟率在统计学上没有差异。这些发现支持了先前的认知神经科学文献，表明负责维持成瘾的行为成分在男性中往往更强烈地偏向一侧，而在女性中则分布更为双侧化。我们的研究为男女之间复杂行为的偏向性差异提供了进一步的证据，这对男女治疗策略的差异具有重要意义。
