suggests that craving has a motor component, so that craving for cigarettes may elicit preparation for action or voluntary movement, goal directed actions (e.g., lighting a cigarette, bringing a cigarette up to the mouth) and/or motor imagery which are linked to the motor system66, 67. It can be estimated that over the course of 20 years, a one pack per day smoker (assuming 11 puffs on average per cigarette68) may perform the action of bringing a lit cigarette to the mouth over 1.5 million times. Thus, the physical action of smoking a cigarette is likely to be critically tied to craving during abstinence.
