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Theses/Dissertations

2019

Biological Psychology

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Experimental Analysis of Behavior

Age-Dependent Effects Of Eedq On Cocaine-Induced Locomotor Activity And D2 Receptor Supersensitivity, Angie Teran Jul 2019

Age-Dependent Effects Of Eedq On Cocaine-Induced Locomotor Activity And D2 Receptor Supersensitivity, Angie Teran

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The neurochemical changes occurring between the preweanling period and adolescence could be crucial for understanding the role development plays in the manifestation of psychotic behaviors. N-ethoxycarbonyl-2-ethoxy-1,2-dihydroquinoline (EEDQ) fully attenuates the DA agonist-induced behaviors of adult rats, while potentiating the DA agonist-induced locomotor activity of preweanling rats. My specific hypotheses were as follows: (1) Systemically administered EEDQ would block the cocaine-induced locomotor activity of adult rats. (2) Systemically administered EEDQ would potentiate the cocaine-induced locomotion of preweanling rats. (3) EEDQ would increase the Emax values (a measure of D2 receptor sensitivity) of preweanling rats, but not adolescent or adult rats. …

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Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) Vocal Responses To Sonar And Spectrally Pink Background Noise, Maria Zapetis May 2019

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops Truncatus) Vocal Responses To Sonar And Spectrally Pink Background Noise, Maria Zapetis

Dissertations

As human populations rise, the level of man-made noise increases globally. Naval sonar and boat traffic are underwater sound sources of particular concern to marine mammal welfare. To better understand the impact of these noise increases on cetaceans, studies can explore animals’ behavioral changes in response to noise. Studies have investigated the ‘dose-response’ relationship between the received sound pressure level of sonar signals and the behavior of cetaceans in the wild, but exposure studies in controlled environments are limited. The studies in this dissertation examined bottlenose dolphin vocal modifications during various experimental noise treatments. Acoustic recordings previously obtained for bottlenose …

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Contextually Modulated Avoidance Behavior In Rats Post-Pavlovian Extinction, Lauren Branigan Feb 2019

Contextually Modulated Avoidance Behavior In Rats Post-Pavlovian Extinction, Lauren Branigan

Theses and Dissertations

The following study sought to examine the psychological substrates of renewal (e.g.., context dependent extinction processes) for conditioned avoidance behaviors in rats. Using signaled active avoidance conditioning, rats acquired two-way shuttle responding, to two different auditory stimuli. These behaviors were then extinguished through exposure to the auditory stimuli where shuttling behavior was now without consequence. Subjects were then tested for renewal of avoidance in three distinct renewal sequences (e.g., ABA vs ABB, AAB vs AAA, and ABC vs ABB) in three separate groups of rats. It was found that subjects showed more responding to a stimulus presented outside of its …

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Examining The Utility Of Behavioral Economic Demand In Addiction Science, Justin Charles Strickland Jan 2019

Examining The Utility Of Behavioral Economic Demand In Addiction Science, Justin Charles Strickland

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

The marriage of perspectives from behavioral economic theory and learning theory has the potential to advance an understanding of substance use and substance use disorder. Behavioral economic demand is a central concept to this interdisciplinary approach. Evaluating demand in the laboratory and clinic can improve previous research on the relative reinforcing effects of drugs by accounting for the multi-dimensional nature of reinforcement rather than viewing reinforcement as a unitary construct. Recent advances in the commodity purchase task methodology have further simplified the measurement of demand values in human participants. This dissertation project presents a programmatic series of studies designed to …

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Circadian Variations And Risky Decision Making, Sana Sra Jan 2019

Circadian Variations And Risky Decision Making, Sana Sra

Scripps Senior Theses

Over the past decades, decision making under risk has garnered a great amount of attention both in the field of economics and psychology. Although state-dependent variabilities of risk taking are well-documented, little is known about the effects of a person’s preferred time of day, or chronotype, in risky decision making. Under circumstances of circadian mismatch (e.g., when an “early bird” makes decisions in the evening), research suggests that decision making may reflect a greater reliance on heuristics, such as using stereotypes in social judgments. However, the effects of circadian mismatch on heuristics in risky decision making are relatively unexplored. This …

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Measuring Glutamate And Oxygen In Brain Reward Circuits In Animal Models Of Cocaine Abuse And Decision-Making, Seth Richard Batten Jan 2019

Measuring Glutamate And Oxygen In Brain Reward Circuits In Animal Models Of Cocaine Abuse And Decision-Making, Seth Richard Batten

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Drug-specific reward and associated effects on neural signaling are often studied between subjects, where one group self-administers drug and a separate group self-administers a natural reinforcer. However, exposure to drugs of abuse can cause long-term neural adaptations that can affect how an organism responds to drug reward, natural reward, and their reward-associated stimuli. Thus, to isolate drug-specific effects it is important to use models that expose the same organism to all of the aforementioned. Multiple schedules provide a means of dissociating the rewarding effects of a drug from the rewarding effects of food within a single animal. Further, drug users …

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