New research from The University of Texas at Dallas has shown that various areas of the brain are activated when marijuana users – whether dependent or non-dependent – were exposed to specific cues that stimulated their desire to use the drug.

According to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug in the U.S.

Regular drug users have a difficult time staying away from marijuana when they are in contact with cues that trigger their need for the drug. Lead study author Dr. Francesca Filbey and colleagues sought to determine what drives these particular effects in the brain.

The researchers gathered brain scans from 71 participants in the study who are regular marijuana users. The participants were either provided with a marijuana pipe or a pencil of similar size while they were being scanned. When the brain scans were compared, the researchers discovered that the reward region of the brain was activated in those who were holding the pipe.

The orbital frontal cortex and hippocampus were more activated in non-dependent users, which suggests that memory is connected to the reward region of the brain being activated. Users who are dependent on the drug had more activations in the anterior cingulate gyrus and amygdala, which suggests more of an emotional connection to marijuana.

“We found that the reward network is actually being driven by other areas unrelated to reward, like the areas in memory and attention or emotion,” said Filbey in a statement.

The findings of the study are published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.