Lab in Gambling, Drugs and Junk-Food
PSYC 399
Spring 2015
| Section:
01
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| This course may be repeated for credit. |
| Crosslisting:
NS&B 399 |
This intensive laboratory course provides in-depth training on the experimental methods of behavioral neuroscience of motivation and reward using rodent research techniques. We will review contemporary studies with a particular focus on gambling, diet-induced obesity and drug addiction. Some of the models examined in more detail will focus on the role of reward uncertainty and the concept of loss in gambling, the individual differences in the attraction to reward cues in subjects prone to obesity versus those that are resistant (with a particular emphasis on prenatal and developmental exposure to high-fat diets), and finally the individual differences in the resistance to adverse consequences in models of intense desire and addiction (such as the conflict-based model and Pavlovian autoshaping). Students will learn how to handle and inject rats in a behavioral neuroscience research setting, and how to measure reward and motivation using operant (skinner) boxes to carry out tasks such as progressive ratio, Pavlovian conditioned approach, conditioned reinforcement, and loco-motor sensitization. They will be exposed and become familiar with several different forms of these research techniques including the hardware and software necessary for this type of research, and will be encouraged to adapt existing behavioral paradigms to answer new questions. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
NSM PSYC |
| Course Format: Laboratory Course | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (NS&B) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Berridge KC, Robinson TE, Aldridge JW. Dissecting components of reward: 'liking', 'wanting', and learning. Curr Opin Pharmacol. 2009 Feb;9(1):65-73.
Robinson TE, Yager LM, Cogan ES, Saunders BT. On the motivational properties of reward cues: Individual differences. Neuropharmacology. 2014 Jan;76 Pt B:450-9.
Fiorillo CD, Tobler PN, Schultz W. Discrete coding of reward probability and uncertainty by dopamine neurons. Science. 2003 Mar 21;299(5614):1898-902.
Clark L, Lawrence AJ, Astley-Jones F, Gray N. Gambling near-misses enhance motivation to gamble and recruit win-related brain circuitry.Neuron. 2009 Feb 12;61(3):481-90.
Potenza MN. Review. The neurobiology of pathological gambling and drug addiction: an overview and new findings. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2008 Oct 12;363(1507):3181-9.
Deroche-Gamonet, V., Belin, D. & Piazza, P. V. Evidence for addiction-like behavior in the rat. Science 305, 1014-1017 (2004).
Chen, B. T. et al. Rescuing cocaine-induced prefrontal cortex hypoactivity prevents compulsive cocaine seeking. Nature 496, 359-362 (2013).
Anselme, P., Robinson, M. J. F. & Berridge, K. C. Reward uncertainty enhances incentive salience attribution as sign-tracking. Behav Brain Res 238, 53-61 (2013).
Bocarsly, M. E. et al. Effects of perinatal exposure to palatable diets on body weight and sensitivity to drugs of abuse in rats. Physiol Behav 107, 568-575 (2012).
Winstanley, C. A., Cocker, P. J. & Rogers, R. D. Dopamine Modulates Reward Expectancy During Performance of a Slot Machine Task in Rats: Evidence for a 'Near-miss' Effect. Neuropsychopharmacology 36, 913-925 (2011).
Zentall, T. R. Suboptimal choice by pigeons: An analog of human gambling behavior. Behavioural Processes 103, 156-164 (2014).
McGuire, B., Baladi, M. & France, C. P. Eating high-fat chow enhances sensitization to the effects of methamphetamine on locomotion in rats. Eur J Pharmacol (2011).
van den Bos, R., Lasthuis, W., Heijer, den, E., van der Harst, J. & Spruijt, B. Toward a rodent model of the Iowa gambling task. Behav Res Methods 38, 470-478 (2006).
Anselme, P. Loss in risk-taking: Absence of optimal gain or reduction in one's own resources? Behav Brain Res 229, 443-446 (2012).
Anselme, P. & Robinson, M. J. F. What motivates gambling behavior? Insight into dopamine's role. Front Behav Neurosci 7, 182 (2013).
Robinson, M. J. F., Anselme, P., Fischer, A. M. & Berridge, K. C. Initial uncertainty in Pavlovian reward prediction persistently elevates incentive salience and extends sign-tracking to normally unattractive cues. In press (2014).
Singer, B. F., Scott-Railton, J. & Vezina, P. Unpredictable saccharin reinforcement enhances locomotor responding to amphetamine. Behav Brain Res 226, 340-344 (2012).
Saunders, B. T., Yager, L. M. & Robinson, T. E. Cue-Evoked Cocaine 'Craving': Role of Dopamine in the Accumbens Core. Journal of Neuroscience 33, 13989-14000 (2013).
Akyol, A., McMullen, S. & Langley-Evans, S. C. Glucose intolerance associated with early-life exposure to maternal cafeteria feeding is dependent upon post-weaning diet. Br. J. Nutr. 107, 964-978 (2012).
Ahmed, S. H., Avena, N. M., Berridge, K. C., Gearhardt, A. & Guillem, K. Food Addiction. Neuroscience in the 21st Century (2013).
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Examinations and Assignments:
Attendance and Participation 10%, Literature review paper 20%, Article Presentation 20%, Project 50% (Talk 25% + Paper 25%). |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Participation in design, implementation, analysis, and write-up of assigned lab projects.
POI: Please go to the following link, follow the instructions and complete and submit the attached form. http://robinsonlab.research.wesleyan.edu/get-involved/ |
| Instructor(s): Robinson,Mike Times: ..T.R.. 10:30AM-11:50AM; Location: ALLB113; |
Permission of Instructor Required
Enrollment capacity: 10 | Permission of instructor approval will be granted by the instructor during pre-registration through the Electronic Portfolio. Click "Add to My Courses" and "To request a POI electronically, click here" to submit your request. |
| Web Resources: Syllabus |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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