Fighting bad habits

A group of U.S. scientists established that there is no special zone in the human brain responsible for controlling addictions, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said. The discovery might help in developing new methods of quitting bad habits.
A group of scientists of the Yale University, led by Hedy Kober, used an MRT scan to examine the brains of 21 smokers who were shown cigarettes and high-fat food. Later they asked them to suppress their craving to eat or to smoke.
The scan showed that brain activity increased or shut down in the same zones, proving that a person is able to successfully control his cravings regardless of whether he wants a habit-forming object, such as a cigarette, or things considered non-addictive, such as high-fat food.