Biopsychology

Area Adviser: Dr. Rick Bevins

OVERVIEW

Welcome to the homepage of the Biopsychology Ph.D. Program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Broadly speaking, faculty research interests include affective neuroscience, animal communication, comparative cognition, learning and memory, drug abuse, and schizophrenia. We pride ourselves on a low student to faculty ratio where graduate students work very closely with faculty on research projects. In addition to this close mentoring model, we are able to offer highly individualized programs of study that can be tailored to fit the student's interest and career goals.

COURSE WORK

Typical course work for incoming student with a Bachelor's degree includes a two course sequence in research methods and data analysis and several seminars in such areas as comparative and physiological psychology, pharmacology, genetics, learning processes, drug abuse, and related fields. In addition, students will typical take directed readings in their specialty, as well as engage in research from the outset of their careers at UNL. Students with a Master's degree in a related area will be able to transfer some coursework. Transfer credit is determined by UNL Office of Graduate Studies policy and the Biopsychology faculty.

SUPPORT

Graduate students in the Biopsychology program are supported by department teaching assistantships and/or by research assistantships from faculty grants. We provide a highly supportive environment that encourages students to also seek support through UNL scholarships and fellowships, as well as extramural agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health.

CORE RESEARCH FACILITIES

Research in the AVIAN COGNITION LABORATORY, directed by Alan B. Bond and Alan C. Kamil, spans a broad array of behavioral and cognitive studies, united by the view that animal intelligence is responsive to specific evolutionary and ecological demands. There are several ongoing lines of research, each of which combines psychological and biological perspectives. One line of research explores the cognitive mechanisms of visual search in blue jays, and the effects of these mechanisms, particularly selective attention, on the evolution of the appearance of their prey. A second program explores mechanisms of spatial cognition in Clark's nutcrackers and other seed-caching corvids, with an emphasis on how landmarks are used to re-locate specific sites. A third program uses both operant and naturalistic techniques to compare related species to explore the evolution of social cognition in jays.

Coordinator: Drs. Alan B. Bond & Alan C. Kamil

Research in the BEHAVIORAL NEUROPHARMACOLOGY LAB bridges areas of neuroscience, pharmacology, psychology, immunology, and animal learning and cognition. With the motivated effort of exceptional graduate and undergraduate students and the consistent support of the Psychology Department, the School of Biological Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, and extramural funding agencies such as NIH, we have made great progress in answering important questions related to drug abuse. In this research effort, we use preclinical animal models to understand factors involved in the development and maintenance of drug abuse. This research includes assessment of factors affecting the ability of drug cues to acquire new meaning and hence control over behavior. Other research effort focuses on novelty and sensation seeking, learned associations between environmental cues and abused drugs (source of cravings), and immunotherapy (vaccine) techniques against drug addiction. For more detail, we invite you to explore the laboratory via our website.

Coordinator: Dr. Rick A. Bevins

The facilities of the BIOACOUSTICS LAB support research on all signals in the audible range. We are fully equipped with digital and analog recording equipment. The lab is Macintosh-based and runs Raven and Canary software for the digital analysis of sounds. Ongoing research includes an investigation of geographical variation in bird song. We are presently focused on the variation observed in neotropical flycatchers

Coordinator: Dr. Daniel Leger

The BIOPSYCHOLOGY LAB focuses on the role that brain neurotransmitter systems play in the control of motivated behaviors (both appetitive and aversive, normal and abnormal). We are particularly interested in the dopamine and glutamate systems, and the interactions between these systems. Our primary research interests are in the area of animal models of schizophrenia and antipsychotic drugs. Current studies explore psychobiological mechanisms of antipsychotic action and behavioral mechanisms underlying positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. We are also interested in the neurochemical bases of maternal behavior in rats. Our research seeks to understand how the limbic systems, especially the basolateral amygdala-nucleus accumbens system interacts with the medial preoptic area-periaqueductal gray pathway in the control of the expression and maintenance of this behavior. The laboratory is equipped with operant conditioning chambers; two-way conditioned avoidance shuttle boxes; locomotor activity monitoring boxes; a state of the art cryostat for slicing brain samples; a optical microscope for examining brain tissues; a behavioral observation room and a surgical room with stereotaxic devices for conducting brain lesions, and implanting cannulaes for drug delivery. http://www.unl.edu/biopsy

Coordinator: Dr. Ming Li

Research in the DEVELOPMENTAL COGNITITVE NEUROSCIENCE LAB (http://research.unl.edu/dcn/index.shtml) integrates methods from neuroscience, cognitive development, statistical modeling, and clinical psychology, to understand how young children regulate thought and behavior and how these processes can go awry with different medical conditions. Currently in a preschool line of research, advanced growth modeling is being used to determine who complex executive control abilities develop in this critical period, and how this development relates to everyday regulatory behavior observed by parents and teachers. Through recording brain Event Related Potentials with high density nets to careful task manipulations, the neural processes that support preschool executive control skill deployment are being studied. Other projects involve determining the precursors of these executive skills in infants and neonates, and characterizing the specific impacts of prenatal substance exposure (e.g. tobacco) and prematurity on the development of executive skills as mediators of later key outcomes, such as academic achievement and externalizing behaviors. For more detail, please visit the laboratory through our website.

Coordinators: Drs. Kimberly Espy & Sandra Wiebe

CORE FACULTY	AFFILIATED FACULTY
Rick A. Bevins	Gwendolyn Bachman (Biological Sciences)
Alan C. Kamil	Alexandra Basolo (Biological Sciences)
Daniel Leger	Alan Bond (Biological Sciences)
Ming Li	Kimberly Espy (Psychology, DCN Lab)
	John Flowers (Cognitive Psychology)
	Robert Gibson (Biological Sciences)
	Dennis McChargue (Clinical Psychology)
	Anne Schutte (Developmental Psychology)
	William Wagner (Biological Sciences)
	Sandra Wiebe (Psychology, DCN Lab)

QUESTIONS

I hope we have sparked your interest in the Biopsychology Program. If so, application forms can be obtained via the web or send an inquiry to Jamie Longwell at jlongwel@unlnotes.unl.edu. Feel free to send any general questions about the Biopsychology Program to Dr. Rick Bevins, the Biopsychology Program Area Coordinator, at rbevins1@unl.edu. Interest in a faculty and his/her research program should be sent directly to the individual.