Alcohol addiction is a widespread problem that affects people of all ages and backgrounds, yet it is not very well treated. Addiction is commonly referred to as a sickness or disease, but is set apart from other diseases in that there is a lack of medications that provide a cure or alleviate symptoms. With the […]
C47: Rodent Behavioral and Antidepressant Effects of Psilocybin and Novel Tryptamines
Clinical trials on the use of psilocybin to treat depression are promising, but still in preliminary stages. Additionally, they are confounded by the presence of hallucinations, which may not be necessary for its clinical effectiveness but create significant challenges in experimental design. Thus, there is a need to determine if other tryptamines have similar molecular […]
C49: Effects of Adolescent Benzodiazepine Exposure on Alcohol Intake and Tolerance
Benzodiazepines (BZDs) are strong anxiolytic drugs that act at GABA receptors, resulting in overall inhibition of the central nervous system (CNS). Benzodiazepines can be prescribed by a doctor, or recreationally abused. One in five high schoolers report using benzodiazepines either medically or recreationally. However, the longitudinal effects of benzodiazepine use during adolescence have not been […]
C66: Do Perceived Sorority Tiers Impact Members’ Drinking Habits?
Alcohol consumption is endemic on University campuses across the United States despite vehement interventions (Winters et al., 2011). Students, typically between the ages of 18 and 22, suffer academic, socioemotional, and physical consequences as a result of problem drinking. More than half of all college students drink alcohol at any point during the span of […]
B39-P: Assessing Suicidal Behavior in Bodybuilders and the Military: An Analysis of Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder and Muscle-Enhancing Risk Behaviors on Suicidal Ideation
Introduction: Muscle Dysmorphia (MD) is defined as a consistent preoccupation over one’s own muscularity and body weight. MD is a subtype of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and is associated with a myriad of acute and long-term health outcomes, including suicidal behavior. Research examining the mechanisms through which suicidal behavior is related to MD is limited, […]
A15-P: Impact of Glucocorticoid Synthesis Inhibition During Early Life Stress on Stress-Enhanced Fear Learning
Early life stress alters future stress responses by leading to neuropsychiatric disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders. Following exposure to a stressor, animals release hormones that aim to reinstate homeostasis. Corticosterone (CORT), a stress hormone, is associated with the consolidation of fear memories where CORT can enhance new emotionally arousing memories. When […]
C13-P: Students Perspective on Communicating Research To Novice Undergraduates
Students in a First Year Research Experience [FYRE] class conducted group projects focused on “Communicating Research to Public Audiences.” Specifically, the projects examined how research opportunities have been impacted by the pandemic and how to best leverage the online environment. Our study explores how to best communicate research with novice undergraduate researchers to increase awareness […]
A21-P: Neuroelectric Imaging to Map Brain Function in the Thomas Lab: A Project of the BIO/PSY 159 Course
BIO/PSY 159, Seminar in Neuroscience, is a class taught by Dr. Joyce Fernandes and familiarizes students with ongoing Neuroscience research at Miami University. The class worked in groups to identify a research lab of our choice. This group chose to explore Dr. Thomas’ research lab in the Psychology department, with interests in cognitive neuroscience. The […]
B14-T: Contributions of the Mesolimbic Dopamine Pathway in Reversal Learning
Cognitive flexibility, which can be measured with reversal learning, is the ability of an individual to alter their behavior in response to changing environmental conditions. Past studies have found that dopamine (DA) is released in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) during reversal learning (Radke et al., 2019, Klanker et al., 2017). The present study sought to […]
A54-P: Effects of Acute Early Life Stress and Maternal Buffering on Corticosterone Secretion and Adult Anxiety
In this study, we explore the effects of acute early life stress (ELS) on adult anxiety behaviors and anxiety-induced corticosterone (stress hormone) release in mice. Specifically, we are looking into the potential stress-mitigating effects of social buffering (interactions between the mouse pup and mother/littermates that can reduce negative effects of stressors). We used footshocks to […]