http://psychology.usu.edu/people/Timothy-A-Shahan/ My research focuses on basic principles of learning and behavior using laboratory animals (i.e., rats and pigeons) as subjects. Much of this research focuses on behavioral momentum, relapse of extinguished responding, conditioned reinforcement, and attention. In addition, some of my research is directed at understanding the contribution of these basic behavioral processes to drug abuse. One line of research funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism focuses on using behavioral momentum theory to understand the impact of drug-associated contexts on the persistence and relapse of alcohol seeking. A second line of research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse examines applications of behavioral momentum theory to understand the role of cocaine-associated contexts on the persistence and relapse of cocaine seeking. Graduate students working in my lab receive full research assistantships. Recent students in the lab have published extensively based on their collaborations on the projects above and as a result of student-initiated projects. I work closely with my students and consider them collaborators and junior colleagues. My goal is to provide students with the skills and credentials needed to pursue research intensive academic careers.
Articles
A model of resurgence based on behavioral momentum theory (with Mary M. Sweeney), Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (2011)
Resurgence is the reappearance of an extinguished behavior when an alternative behavior reinforced during extinction...
Behavioral momentum and relapse of ethanol seeking: nondrug reinforcement in a context increases relative reinstatement (with Adam D. Pyszczynski), Behavioural Pharmacology (2011)
Drug-related stimuli seem to contribute to the persistence of drug seeking and relapse. Behavioral momentum...
Loss of Alternative Non-Drug Reinforcement Induces Relapse of Cocaine-Seeking in Rats: Role of Dopamine D1 Receptors (with Stacey L. Quick, Adam D. Pyszczynski, and Kelli A. Colston), Neuropsychopharmacology (2011)
Animal models of relapse to drug seeking have focused primarily on relapse induced by exposure...
Conditioned Reinforcement and Response Strength, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (2010)
Stimuli associated with primary reinforcers appear themselves to acquire the capacity to strengthen behavior. This...
Extinction, Relapse, and Behavioral Momentum (with Christopher A. Podlesnik), Behavioural Processes (2010)
Previous experiments on behavioral momentum have shown that relative resistance to extinction of operant behavior...