The role of visual imagery in craving.

This thesis tests a new theory of craving: The Elaborated-Intrusion Theory of Desire.
The theory incorporates aspects of current conditioning, neurophysiological and
cognitive theories and expands on existing knowledge of craving. The theory suggests
that human desire involves intrusive thoughts and elaborated cognitions and also
introduces mental imagery as a key aspect of the craving episode.
There are two broad areas of research conducted in this thesis. The first explored the
subjective experience of craving using two questionnaire studies. The results from these
questionnaire studies acknowledged the generality of craving, indicating that the
subjective experience of desire was similar across different target substances and it
confirmed that visual imagery was a component of craving.
The second area of research focuses on this relationship between visual imagery and
craving. Experiments 1 to 3 tested visual imagery and working memory manipulations
in deprived and continuing smokers. They provide empirical support for the hypothesis
that craving can be reduced by a concurrent task that selectively loads the cognitive
processes involved in generating and maintaining an image of the craved substance. The
final experiment was an intervention study testing the potential for using visual imagery
methods to manage cravings outside the laboratory. However, the visual imagery task
did reduce smoking behaviour over a one-week 'treatment' period in a group of
smokers wanting to quit, an auditory imagery task had a similar effect.
The results overall support the contention of the EI theory that visual imagery is a key
component in desire. Despite the equivocal results of Experiment 4, the findings
highlight the potential for imagery interventions to help manage craving in therapeutic
setting.