Dr. Karen Anderson’s Laboratory
Drug Effects on Decision Making: Many of the problem behaviors in society—such as drug abuse, obesity, and pathological gambling— involve poor decision-making. Dr. Anderson’s research uses genetically different rat strains to identify determinants of choice, particularly when that choice is deemed impulsive (choosing a small, immediate reinforcer over a larger, but delayed one; delay discounting) or risky (choosing a large, but uncertain reinforcer over a smaller, but certain one; probability discounting). Baseline choice is compared to choice under the influence of drugs across rat strains or under other environmental variables, such as housing conditions.
REU participants will lead research projects that extend the ongoing line of investigation into drug effects on choice. REU participants will gain technical laboratory skills related to animal handling and husbandry, administration of drugs (e.g., amphetamine, nicotine, aripiprazole) and vehicle, and graphical and statistical analysis of resulting behavioral data. REU participants will also develop a deeper understanding of experimental design when analyzing interactive effects (e.g., how genes and drug interactively influence overt behavior) and how various classes of drugs exert direct and interactive influences on behavior. For example, the figure to the right shows representative group data from rats, which display relatively steeper delay, discounting when there is no drug (saline; open symbols) and how choice shifts to become more impulsive when rats are exposed to d-amphetamine in a reversal (ABA) experimental design.
