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CS92PROD
Lab in Gambling, Drugs, and Junk Food

PSYC 399
Spring 2016
Section: 01  
This course may be repeated for credit.
Crosslisting: NS&B 399
Course Cluster: Health Studies

This intensive laboratory course provides in-depth training on the experimental methods of behavioral neuroscience of motivation and reward and provides students with HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE WITH ANIMAL RESEARCH USING RODENT MODELS. 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. Students will learn how to handle and inject rats in a behavioral neuroscience research setting and how to measure reward and motivation using diverse apparatuses such as operant (Skinner) boxes or conditioned place preference chambers. More importantly, students will get to carry out their own animal research project in the lab either individually or as a group, which may require a heavier time commitment for the duration of the experiment (including some research over the weekends).
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: NSM PSYC
Course Format: Laboratory CourseGrading Mode: Student Option
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (NS&B)
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on MAR-29-2024
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