Biological Psychology Commons^™

Practical Considerations For Conducting Canine Behavioral Science, Lucrezia Lonardo, Madeline H. Pelgrim, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Research on behavior in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) has increased rapidly recently due to the interest in them as pets, working dogs, and model species for understanding evolution, domestication, and even human health. This interest in canine behavioral science has resulted in the creation of dozens of dog lab worldwide, with more starting every year. Our aim here is to review practical issues that potential dog researchers might consider when deciding how to set up a dog lab and conduct research in canine behavioral science. We hope that this can offer a path forward in promoting high-quality, cutting-edge …

Hormonal Modulation Of Sexual Approach And Avoidance Among Women With A History Of Sexual Trauma, Anneliis Susan Sartin-Tarm

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

A history of sexual trauma places women at a high risk for sexual dysfunction and other health sequelae, yet the influence of ovarian hormones in this population is poorly understood. This dissertation tested the theory that the effects of ovarian hormones are mediated by cognitive approach-avoidance systems to shape sexual well-being, and that this process is moderated by sexual trauma history. This was investigated across three studies examining the menstrual cycle, hormonal contraceptive use, and menopause. Across each chapter, I present complementary evidence demonstrating that hormones interact with the interpretation of ambiguous internal and external cues with respect to sexual …

Contraceptive Hormone Influences On The Role Of Primary Reinforcement And Reinforcer-Enhancement In Nicotine Self-Administration, Kathleen Robin Mcnealy

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Hormonal contraceptives contain a synthetic estrogen (e.g., ethinyl estradiol/EE) and/or a synthetic progestin (e.g., levonorgestrel/LEVO) and can exacerbate nicotine intake. However, whether altered intake reflects changes in nicotine reinforcement or enhancement by nicotine of co-occurring reinforcers is unknown. This reinforcer-enhancement effect is evidenced in rats when nicotine self-administration is increased by the presence of a visual stimulus (VS) reinforcer. This dissertation examined the effects of EE and LEVO on nicotine reinforcement and reinforcer-enhancement in ovary-intact female Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were implanted with a jugular catheter and assigned to receive daily injections of EE (Vehicle, 0.125 [Low], or 0.18 [High] μg/day; …

Sex Differences In Lateral Hypothalamic Extracellular Glucose Concentrations During Cumulative Dosing Of Methamphetamine In Rats, Joshua A. Jolton

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The present study experimentally investigated sex differences in lateral hypothalamic glucose concentrations following cumulative dosing of methamphetamine. Male (n=17) and female (n=11) rats were surgically implanted with enzyme-based glucose biosensors in the lateral hypothalamus. Rats then received a saline injection followed by four methamphetamine doses (0.025 mg/kg, 0.05 mg/kg, 0.1 mg/kg, and 0.2 mg/kg) spaced 55 minutes apart. We found that while there was a general decrease in glucose baseline throughout the study for both sexes, the magnitude of the decrease was significantly greater in females compared to males. On a rapid timescale, fixed sex effects existed at the lower …

The Evolution Of Quantitative Sensitivity, Margaret A H Bryer, Sarah E. Koopman, Jessica F. Cantlon, Steven T. Piantadosi, Evan L. Maclean, Joseph M. Baker, Michael J. Beran, Sarah M. Jones, Kerry E. Jordan, Salif Mahamane, Andreas Nieder, Bonnie M. Perdue, Friederike Range, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Masaki Tomonaga, Dorottya Ujfalussy, Jennifer Vonk

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

The ability to represent approximate quantities appears to be phylogenetically widespread, but the selective pressures and proximate mechanisms favouring this ability remain unknown. We analysed quantity discrimination data from 672 subjects across 33 bird and mammal species, using a novel Bayesian model that combined phylogenetic regression with a model of number psychophysics and random effect components. This allowed us to combine data from 49 studies and calculate the Weber fraction (a measure of quantity representation precision) for each species. We then examined which cognitive, socioecological and biological factors were related to variance in Weber fraction. We found contributions of phylogeny …

Effects Of Human-Animal Interactions On Affect And Cognition, Elise L. Thayer, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Human-animal interaction has clear positive effects on people’s affect and stress. But less is known about how animal interactions influence cognition. We draw parallels between animal interactions and exposure to natural environments, a research area that shows clear improvements in cognitive performance. The aim of this study is to investigate whether interacting with animals similarly enhances cognitive performance, specifically executive functioning. To test this, we conducted two experiments in which we had participants self-report their affect and complete a series of cognitive tasks (long-term memory, attentional control, and working memory) before and after either a brief interaction with a dog …

Dog And Owner Characteristics Predict Training Success, Jeffrey R. Stevens, London M. Wolff, Megan Bosworth, Jill Morstad

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Teaching owners how to train their dogs is an important part of maintaining the health and safety of dogs and people. Yet we do not know what behavioral characteristics of dogs and their owners are relevant to dog training or if owner cognitive abilities play a role in training success. The aim of this study is to determine which characteristics of both dogs and owners predict success in completing the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizen training program. Before the first session of a dog training course, owners completed surveys evaluating the behavior and cognition of their dog and themselves. …

Are Capuchin Monkeys (Sapajus Spp.) Sensitive To Lost Opportunities? The Role Of Opportunity Costs In Intertemporal Choice, Elsa Addessi, Valeria Tierno, Valentina Focaroli, Federica Rossi, Serena Gastaldi, Francesca De Petrillo, Fabio Paglieri, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Principles of economics predict that the costs associated with obtaining rewards can influence choice. When individuals face choices between a smaller, immediate option and a larger, later option, they often experience opportunity costs associated with waiting for delayed rewards because they must forego the opportunity to make other choices. We evaluated how reducing opportunity costs affects delay tolerance in capuchin monkeys. After choosing the larger option, in the High cost condition, subjects had to wait for the delay to expire, whereas in the Low cost different and Low cost same conditions, they could perform a new choice during the delay. …

Interactive Effect Of Maternal Activation And Disc-1 Knockout On Pup Preference Of Postpartum Rats, Barbara Bueno

UCARE: Research Products

The main purpose of the study was to find a three-way interaction between genotype, treatment and interacted subjects. Interestingly, and not expected, the KO*MIA rats spent more time with the pups compared to time spent with the male rat. This unexpected results from this study are evidence that there is a complex spectrum of behavioral symptoms due to genetics, environment and their interactive effect (Schwartzer et aI., 2013). For that reason, the interaction between genetics (DISCI) and environment (MIA) might be more complex than what is believed.

No Association Between An Oxytocin Receptor Genetic Variant And Depressive Symptoms, Rachel Sisley, Grace Sullivan, Scott Stoltenberg

UCARE: Research Products

• Depression has the greatest impact on daily functioning capability of all diseases and adversely effects individuals globally (Flint & Kendler, 2014). • Human capital value of these losses has been about $40 billion dollars annually (Kessler, 2012). • Analysis of the genetic and biological systems associated with depressive symptoms, such as the oxytocin system, could lead to identifying risk variants and possible treatment development. • Genetic Variation in OXTR is associated with a variation in depressive symptoms including low selfesteem, pessimism, and low self-efficacy, etc. (Conner et al., 2018). • The A allele of the SNP rs53576 is considered …

Enhancing The Rewarding Effects And Subsequent Self-Administration Of Nicotine Through Appetitive Interoceptive Conditioning, Allissa Flynn

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Nicotine is commonly considered to be the primary addictive constituent in tobacco products. Therefore, research focused on nicotine and its effects is necessary for understanding nicotine dependency and in developing potential cessation treatments. Research has confirmed the relevance of learning processes associated with nicotine and their influence on the development of addiction. Conditioning involving interoceptive stimuli is increasingly cited as playing a role in many diseases, psychopathologies, and drug addiction. The internal stimulus effects of nicotine can form associations with other reinforcing stimuli through a process of Pavlovian conditioning where nicotine is the conditioned stimulus. In this way, nicotine acquires …

The Signature Of Undetected Change: An Exploratory Electrotomographic Investigation Of Gradual Change Blindness, John E. Kiat, Michael D. Dodd, Robert F. Belli, Jacob E. Cheadle

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Neuroimaging-based investigations of change blindness, a phenomenon in which seemingly obvious changes in visual scenes fail to be detected, have significantly advanced our understanding of visual awareness. The vast majority of prior investigations, however, utilize paradigms involving visual disruptions (e.g., intervening blank screens, saccadic movements, “mudsplashes”), making it difficult to isolate neural responses toward visual changes cleanly. To address this issue in this present study, high-density EEG data (256 channel) were collected from 25 participants using a paradigm in which visual changes were progressively introduced into detailed real-world scenes without the use of visual disruption. Oscillatory activity associated with undetected …

Social Contact Patterns Can Buffer Costs Of Forgetting In The Evolution Of Cooperation, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Jan K. Woike, Lael J. Schooler, Stefan Lindner, Thorsten Pachur

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Analyses of the evolution of cooperation often rely on two simplifying assumptions: (i) individuals interact equally frequently with all social network members and (ii) they accurately remember each partner's past cooperation or defection. Here, we examine how more realistic, skewed patterns of contact—in which individuals interact primarily with only a subset of their network's members—influence cooperation. In addition, we test whether skewed contact patterns can counteract the decrease in cooperation caused by memory errors (i.e. forgetting). Finally, we compare two types of memory error that vary in whether forgotten interactions are replaced with random actions or with actions from previous …

Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beer Holder: An Initial Investigation Of The Effects Of Alcohol, Attractiveness, Warmth, And Competence On The Objectifying Gaze In Men, Abigail R. Riemer, Michelle Haikalis, Molly R. Franz, Michael Dodd, David Dilillo, Sarah Gervais

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Despite literature revealing the adverse consequences of objectifying gazes for women, little work has empirically examined origins of objectifying gazes by perceivers. Integrating alcohol myopia and objectification theories, we examined the effects of alcohol as well as perceived female attractiveness, warmth, and competence on objectifying gazes. Specifically, male undergraduates (n = 49) from a large U.S. Midwestern university were administered either an alcoholic or placebo beverage. After consumption, participants were asked to focus on the appearance or personality (counterbalanced) of pictured women who were previously rated as high, average, or low in attractiveness, warmth, and competence. Replicating previous work, appearance …

Emotion Moderates The Association Between Htr2a (Rs6313) Genotype And Antisaccade Latency, Mark S. Mills, Olivia Wieda, Scott F. Stoltenberg, Michael Dodd

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The serotonin system is heavily involved in cognitive and emotional control processes. Previous work has typically investigated this system’s role in control processes separately for cognitive and emotional domains, yet it has become clear the two are linked. The present study, therefore, examined whether variation in a serotonin receptor gene (HTR2A, rs6313) moderated effects of emotion on inhibitory control. An emotional antisaccade task was used in which participants looked toward (prosaccade) or away (antisaccade) from a target presented to the left or right of a happy, angry, or neutral face. Overall, antisaccade latencies were slower for rs6313 C allele homozygotes …

Examination Of Methamphetamine Reinstatement In Female And Male Rats: A Pre-Clinical Model Of Relapse, Steven T. Pittenger

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Methamphetamine (meth) dependence is often characterized by persistent and chronic relapse (i.e., return to drug use). There is growing pre-clinical and human evidence suggesting females are at greater risk to relapse. The set of studies presented in this dissertation extended this limited evidence by identifying sex-dependent neural substrates correlated with meth-triggered reinstatement (Experiment 1) and by examining sex-differences in reinstatement triggered by drugs of abuse that are commonly co-abused with meth (Experiment 2). Female and male rats were trained to self-administer meth, received subsequent extinction sessions, and then tested for reinstatement. In Experiment 1, rats were perfused following reinstatement testing …

Daily Bidirectional Relationships Between Sleep And Mental Health Symptoms In Youth With Emotional And Behavioral Problems, Tori R. Van Dyk, Ronald W. Thompson, Timothy D. Nelson

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective The present study examined the daily, bidirectional relationships between sleep and mental health symptoms in youth presenting to mental health treatment. Methods Youth aged 6 to 11 (36% female, 44% European American) presenting to outpatient behavioral health treatment (N = 25) were recruited to participate in the study. Children and parents completed daily questionnaires regarding the child’s sleep, mood, and behavior for a 14-day period, while youth wore an actigraph watch to objectively measure sleep. Results Examining between- and within-person variance using multilevel models, results indicate that youth had poor sleep duration and quality and that sleep and mental …

The Contribution Of A Polygenic Risk Score To Individual Differences In Aggressive Behavior: The Moderating And Mediating Roles Of Stressful Events, Christa C. Christ

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Although aggression can be beneficial in certain situations (e.g. playing sports, self-defense), excessive and inappropriate aggression can lead to adverse physical and psychological health outcomes in both perpetrators and victims. Genetic susceptibility to negative environments can increase the likelihood of aggressive behavior in the context of situational risk factors. Low efficiency of serotonin neurotransmission and exposure to stress appear to play a prominent role in the etiology of aggressive behavior. A set of three studies assessed the contribution of polygenic risk (TPH2 rs4570625, SLC6A4 5-HTTLPR+rs25531, HTR1B rs13212041, MAOA uVNTR) to aggressive behavior, including alcohol-related aggression, in university students at varying …

Nature As A Buffer: The Physiological Effects Of Exposure To Nature On Stress, Tyler J. Stading, Jeffrey R. Stevens

UCARE: Research Products

Exposure to images of nature following a stressful event can reduce physiological measures associated with stress. The objectives of this study was to determine whether exposure to nature before the stressor can buffer the stress response. We varied whether nature or urban images were viewed before or after a stressor and measured galvanic skin response in our participants. We describe how order of presenting the stressor influences nature’s calming effect on physiology.

Intertemporal Similarity: Discounting As A Last Resort, Jeffrey R. Stevens

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

Standard models of intertemporal choice assume that individuals discount future payoffs by integrating reward amounts and time delays to generate a discounted value. Alternative models propose that, rather than integrate across them, individuals compare within attributes (amounts and delays) to determine if differences in one attribute outweigh differences in another attribute. For instance, Leland (2002) and Rubinstein (2003) propose models that 1) compare the two reward amounts to determine whether they are similar, 2) compare the similarity of the two time delays, and then 3) make a decision based on these similarity judgments. Here, I tested discounting models against attribute-based …

The Domain Specificity Of Intertemporal Choice In Pinyon Jays, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Bryce Kennedy, Dina Morales, Marianna Burks

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

When choosing between a piece of cake now versus a slimmer waistline in the future, many of us have difficulty with self-control. Food-caching species, however, regularly hide food for later recovery, sometimes waiting months before retrieving their caches. It remains unclear whether these long-term choices generalize outside of the caching domain. We hypothesized that the ability to save for the future is a general tendency that cuts across different situations. To test this hypothesis, we measured and experimentally manipulated caching to evaluate its relationship with operant measures of self-control in pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus). We found no correlation …

Reflections Of The Social Environment In Chimpanzee Memory: Applying Rational Analysis Beyond Humans, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Julian N. Marewski, Lael J. Schooler, Ian C. Gilby

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

In cognitive science, the rational analysis framework allows modelling of how physical and social environments impose information-processing demands onto cognitive systems. In humans, for example, past social contact among individuals predicts their future contact with linear and power functions. These features of the human environment constrain the optimal way to remember information and probably shape how memory records are retained and retrieved. We offer a primer on how biologists can apply rational analysis to study animal behaviour. Using chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) as a case study, we modelled 19 years of observational data on their social contact patterns. Much …

Political Neuroscience, Ingrid J. Haas

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

The field of political science has traditionally had close ties to disciplines like economics, history, and sociology. While political science has always been somewhat interdisciplinary in nature, in recent years this interdisciplinary approach has expanded to include biology, psychology, and neuroscience. This interest in the human sciences has led to the development of new subfields within political science, including biopolitics, political psychology, and political neuroscience (also called neuropolitics). What these new subfields have in common is an interest in individual human behavior and decision-making as an approach to understanding political behavior. While political science has traditionally focused on understanding politics …

Effects Of Repeated Quetiapine Treatment On Conditioned Avoidance Responding In Rats, Jun Gao, Min Feng, Natashia Swalve, Collin Davis, Nan Sui, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The present study characterized the behavioral mechanisms of avoidance–disruptive effect of quetiapine in the conditioned avoidance response test under two behavioral testing (2 warning signals vs. 1 warning signal) and two drug administration conditions (subcutaneous vs. intravenous). In Experiments 1 and 2, well-trained adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were tested under the subcutaneous (s.c.) quetiapine treatment (5.0, 15.0, 25.0, 50.0 mg/kg) for 7 days in a novel procedure consisting of two conditioned stimuli (CS) (white noise serving as CS1 and pure tone as CS2). Only the highest dose (50.0 mg/kg) produced a persistent suppression of the avoidance response without impairing the …

Kin Selection, Raymond Hames

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

When Hamilton (1964) published his theory of inclusive fitness it had no immediate impact in the social and behavioral sciences, even though ethnographers knew kinship to be a universally fundamental factor in human social organization, especially in egalitarian societies in which humans have spent nearly all their evolutionary history. In many ways, it was a theory that perhaps anthropologists should have devised: Anthropologists knew kinship fundamentally structured cooperation, identity, coalition formation, resource exchange, marriage, and group membership in traditional societies. It was not until 1974 with the publication of Wilson’s Sociobiology (1975) and especially Richard Alexander’s The Evolution of Social …

Bugs Are Not Loved, David Bober

Nebraska College Preparatory Academy: Senior Capstone Projects

The story The Metamorphosis is about Gregor, a young salesman, who turns into a giant insect. Over the course of The Metamorphosis, Gregor slowly begins to hate his change more and more. During his change, he slowly separates from his family to the point where they are relieved when he dies. This story is important because the protagonists has clear ordeals with change and how it affects him. From the story, I learned that most change is often resented, and when change is pushed, it usually ends negatively.

Double Dissociation Of The Anterior And Posterior Dorsomedial Caudate–Putamen In The Acquisition And Expression Of Associative Learning With The Nicotine Stimulus, Sergios Charntikov

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide. This habit is not only debilitating to individual users but also to those around them (second-hand smoking). Nicotine is the main addictive component of tobacco products and is a moderate stimulant and a mild reinforcer. Importantly, besides its unconditional effects, nicotine also has conditioned stimulus effects that may contribute to the tenacity of the smoking habit. Because the neurobiological substrates underlying these processes are virtually unexplored, the present study investigated functional involvement of dorsomedial caudate putamen (dmCPu) in the conditioning processes with nicotine as a conditioned stimulus. Rats were trained …

Oprm1 Rs1799971 Genotype Predicts Drinking Behavior In Males, But Not Females, Sarah Hughes Berheim, Carmen Ochoa, Grace Sullivan, Scott F. Stoltenberg

UCARE: Research Products

• The prevalence of alcohol disorders costs Americans $223.5 billion yearly due mostly from losses in workplace productivity, as well as health care and criminal justice expenses (CDC, 2016).

• Maximum number of drinks consumed in a 24 hour period is a valid indicator of dangerous drinking behavior and may reflect an increased tolerance for high levels of alcohol (Edenberg, 2016).

• Awareness of factors related to such heavy drinking is important for targeting interventions for dangerous alcohol use.

• Men drink significantly more than women, with about 4.5% of men and 2.5% of women meeting the diagnostic criteria for …

Stress And Eyewitness Memory: Timing Of Stressor And Association With Cortisol Stress Responding, Timothy Ryan Robicheaux

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Witnesses to and victims of criminal events can face significant stress during such encounters. Stress responding consists of a multitude of responses (e.g., anxiety, cardiovascular changes, cortisol responding). In the current study, I utilized a physiological stressor (i.e., the cold-pressor test) and a facial recognition paradigm to examine the relationship between cortisol change following stress exposure and memory accuracy. More specifically, I examined whether cortisol levels at specific memory stages (i.e., acquisition and retrieval) predicted stress responding differently.

Findings suggested that individual differences in cortisol stress responding to the cold-pressor test predicted facial recognition when peak cortisol was at a …

Repeated Effects Of The Neurotensin Receptor Agonist Pd149163 In Three Animal Tests Of Antipsychotic Activity: Assessing For Tolerance And Cross-Tolerance To Clozapine, Shinnyi Chou, Collin Davis, Sean Jones, Ming Li

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Neurotensin is an endogenous neuropeptide closely associated with the mesolimbic dopaminergic system and shown to possess antipsychotic-like effects. In particular, acute neurotensin receptor activation can inhibit conditioned avoidance response (CAR), attenuate phencyclidine (PCP)-induced prepulse inhibition (PPI) disruptions, and reverse PCP-induced hyperlocomotion. However, few studies have examined the long term effects of repeated neurotensin receptor activation and results are inconsistent. Since clinical administration of antipsychotic therapy often requires a prolonged treatment schedule, here we assessed the effects of repeated activation of neurotensin receptors using an NTS1 receptor selective agonist, PD149163, in 3 behavioral tests of antipsychotic activity. We also investigated whether …