Graphic warning labels (GWLs) on cigarette packaging drove motivation in young adults to quit smoking, a study showed.
These labels increased willingness to quit smoking, as opposed to text-only warning labels placed on either brand-name or generic cigarette packaging.
“These data begin to delineate a neural underlay for recent self-report investigations indicating that GWLs are an important intervention for motivating young adult smokers to quit,” the researchers at the University of Pennsylvania concluded. “Future studies can advance this area of research by prospectively examining whether neural activation in response to GWLs predicts future quitting behavior and examining differences based on aspects of warning message content.”
The study used functional MRI (fMRI) imaging to monitor the brain while participants viewed the images, according to Current Science Daily.
Although it was a small study -- just 19 participants aged 18 to 30 -- the revelation can provide guidance for policymakers as a way to intervene with smoking cessation.
The technical report, which was published in Scholarly Commons, complements other neuroimaging GWL studies performed with older adult smokers and with adolescents by demonstrating similar patterns of neural activation in response to GWLs among young adult smokers.