Unhealthy drinking habits are on the rise and despite the efforts implemented by schools, just under 2,000 college students die a year from unintentional alcohol-related injuries (Hingson & White, 2014). Figuring out what leads students to binge drinking is crucial to finding a preventive solution to slow down drinking rates. This study’s purpose is to […]
A02: Anxiety Sensitivity and Alcohol-Induced Blackouts: Exploring the Impact of Drinking Motives and Gender in College Students
Anxiety sensitivity is defined as fear related to the belief that the symptoms of anxiety that a person experiences are indicative of greater harm (Taylor et al., 2007). Anxiety sensitivity is a risk factor for heavy alcohol use (Paulus & Zvolensky, 2020; Stewart et al., 1999). Of note, in existing research, there are gaps on […]
A05: Perceived Popularity and Snack Choices
Humans face many choices that often includes a variety of information. In the end, decision-makers must decide what information they want to consider in each choice. One area of interest is how the choices of others influence the preferences of the decision-maker. We investigated if the snack preferences of college students for sixteen common snack […]
A43: Striatal Cholinergic Interneurons Influence Ethanol Drinking
Heavy alcohol use and binge drinking are important contributors to alcohol use disorder (AUD). The endogenous opioid system has been implicated in alcohol consumption and preference in both humans and animals. The mu opioid receptor (MOR) is expressed on multiple cells in the striatum, however little is known about the contributions of specific MOR populations […]
B45: Development and Validation of a Quantitative Measure of Caregiver White Racial Socialization
In recent decades, a body of psychological research has emerged exploring how children with marginalized racial and ethnic identities learn about their culture and heritage, as well as learn about discrimination and racism, a process known as ethnic racial socialization (ERS; Umaña-Taylor & Hill, 2020). Despite this growing field with families of color, relatively less […]
C46: Cholinergic Mu-Opioid Receptor Modulation of Nicotine and Alcohol Drinking Behaviors
Alcohol and nicotine are common substances that are used and abused in society. Not only are these substances used independently of each other, but there is considerable overlap, with many people consuming both nicotine and alcohol. Alcohol and nicotine use are known to depend on striatal dopamine release, which is modulated by the release of […]
C53: The Effects of Early Life Stress on Alcohol Drinking Behavior in Mice
Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a prevalent issue in the United States affecting roughly 30 million people and 894,000 adolescents with a strong correlation linked to adolescent exposure to alcohol. Early Life Stress (ELS) has been shown to be heavily comorbid with AUD and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). People diagnosed with PTSD are three times […]
C56: Sex Differences in Safety and Threat Learning: An Evaluation of BNST-projecting Neurons From the PVT
Recently, evidence of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) plays a pivotal role in fear responses. Still, more research is needed into how important PVT is in safety learning. In this study, we examined the role of PVT and its projection to the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) in safety learning through […]
C57: The Effect of Safety and Sex on Freezing and Central Amygdala-PVT Pathway in Rats
Several studies have reported that the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) is a sensory relay node in the brain that interacts with fear circuitry. However, little is known about the PVT in relation to safety learning, particularly its interaction with the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) in the context of safety expression. Here, […]
C59: Selective Genetic Deletion of Oprm1 in FoxP2-Expressing Neurons Reduces Aversion-Resistant Reward Seeking
Mu-opioid receptors (MORs) in the amygdala and striatum are important in addictive and rewarding behaviors. For the current series of studies, we characterized the behavior of mice with genetic deletion of the MOR gene Oprm1 in FoxP2-expressing neurons (FoxP2-Cre/Oprm1fl/fl). FoxP2 is expressed in intercalated cells of the amygdala and a subset of striatal medium spiny […]