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Development Of An Avian Model For Identifying Individual Differences In Drug Vulnerability, Beth A. Rice

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The attribution of incentive salience to cues that become associated with drugs of abuse is a critical characteristic of individuals who may be vulnerable to drug addiction. Rodents with the propensity to sign track are thought to be vulnerable to drug abuse. The goal of the current work was to investigate whether sign trackers (STs) would acquire cocaine conditioned place preference (CPP) to a discrete cue using an avian species. In Experiment 1, sign and goal trackers (GTs) were first identified using a one third rank order split. Following identification, cocaine-CPP was conducted with a discrete cue in each end …

Examining The Behavioral Mechanism Of Cocaine Cue Attentional Bias, Katherine R. Marks

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Heightened attentional bias towards cocaine-related stimuli relative to neutral stimuli is a characteristic observed in cocaine-use disorders. Response time is an indirect measure of attention and research has failed to consistently demonstrate evidence of clinical relevance. Eye tracking presents a novel tool for directly measuring attentional allocation. The aim of this dissertation was to assess the sensitivity, reliability, and specificity of attentional bias through fixation and response time during the visual probe task.

In the visual probe task, substance-related and matched neutral images were presented side-by-side on a computer screen. Eye-tracking technology measured time spent fixating on each image. A …

Cocaine-Induced Behavioral Sensitization And Conditioned Place Preference In Japanese Quail (Coturnix Japonica): A Focus On Sex Differences And Dopaminergic Mechanisms, Karin E. Gill

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Research has indicated that gonadal hormones may mediate behavioral and biological responses to cocaine. Estrogen, in particular, has been shown to increase behavioral responding to cocaine in female rats relative to male rats. The use of Japanese quail may add to our knowledge of sex differences in drug abuse because of their advanced visual system and the ability to control their gonadal hormones via alterations in photoperiod. In three experiments, cocaine-induced behaviors were examined using this avian model.

In Experiment 1, I investigated the potential sex differences in cocaine-induced locomotor activity between male and female Japanese quail and I examined …