Karen G. Anderson, Ph.D.
Assistant
Professor
Behavior
Analysis Program
Office: LSB 2118
Lab: LSB 2155
Phone: (304) 293-2001 ext. 31606
E-mail: Karen.Anderson@mail.wvu.edu
Dr. Anderson
received her B.S. (1989), M.S. (1995), and Ph.D. (1998) from the Experimental
Analysis of Behavior Program in the Department of Psychology at the
Dr.
Anderson’s research emphasis is in the area of behavioral pharmacology and
issues surrounding drug abuse. Her
primary interests lie in the study of determinants of choice, particularly when
that choice is deemed impulsive (choosing a small, immediate outcome over a
larger, but delayed one). Other areas of
research interest include drug discrimination, response acquisition, and
behavioral factors involved in drug tolerance.
Her
teaching activities include Introduction to Physiological Psychology,
Behavioral Pharmacology, Clinical Psychopharmacology, Drug Use and Abuse, and
other classes and seminars as posted.
Her
professional service includes serving as President of the Southeastern
Association for Behavior Analysis (2006-2007) and Program Chair for the Annual
Meeting of the Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis (2004-2005). She is a member of the Board of Editors for Behavioural Processes and a reviewer for
various journals including Journal of the
Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Drug
and Alcohol Dependence, and Pharmacology
Biochemistry and Behavior. Her
professional memberships include the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA),
Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis (SEABA), College on the Problems
of Drug Dependence (CPDD), International Study Group Investigating Drugs as
Reinforcers (ISGIDAR), Society for Stimulus Properties of Drugs (SSPD),
Behavioral Pharmacology Society (BPS), and American Psychological Association
(APA) Division 28.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dr. Anderson’s
primary research interest concerns identifying determinants of choice. Individuals frequently make choices that
result in different consequences, e.g., studying for tomorrow’s exam or going
to a party, smoking a cigarette or abstaining for health and financial benefits. It is the factors that determine such choices
that is of interest. Specifically, how do early learning experiences and/or drugs affect
choice, particularly choice that is characterized as impulsive (opting for a
smaller, immediate outcome over a larger, delayed one)? Work in this area may increase our
understanding of environmental determinants of choice and the neurobiology of
“impulsivity,” which has relevance to the treatment and prevention of drug abuse,
gambling, aggression, suicide, attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
and other impulse-control disorders.
From the study of choice and delayed outcomes, it has been suggested that individuals discount the value of a reinforcer according to the delay to its presentation. Delay discounting (or “impulsivity”) has been shown to be greater in subjects with a history of drug use/abuse when compared to non-using control subjects. Such behavior patterns may lead to an individual taking a drug that results in an immediate “high” versus abstaining for long-term health benefits. Other high-risk or “impulsive” behaviors, e.g., gambling, sharing needles, have also been reported to be associated with higher rates of delay discounting.
Despite the fact that the
correlation between substance abuse and impulsivity has been demonstrated,
effects of drugs on delay discounting or impulsive choice have not been fully
evaluated. It is not known whether differences
in delay discounting underlie substance-abuse disorders or if the acute or
chronic use of drugs affects delay discounting and impulsive choice, or if
other factors (e.g., environmental history, genetics, neurochemistry) underlie
both substance abuse and delay discounting.
Some of Dr. Anderson’s experiments begin to address such issues through
the use of animal models.
GRANTS
Principal Investigator, Effects of abused drugs and genetics on impulsive choice ($146,500). National Institute on Drug Abuse, R03 DA-019842, National Institutes of Health, 2006-2008.
Principal Investigator, Translational research investigating impulsive choice in children and an animal model of ADHD ($20,980). WVU Research Corporation Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (PSCoR), 2005-2006.
Principal
Investigator, Effects of prior reinforcement experience on impulsive choice
($11,239).
Principal Investigator, Effects of drugs of abuse and genetics on impulsive choice ($611,154). Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, P20-RR16438, National Institutes of Health, 2002-2007 (terminated by investigator July 2003 due to a new position).
Principal
Investigator, Effects of differential conditioning histories on impulsive
choice in rats. ($10,000). University of
Co-Investigator, Determinants of drug choice in monkeys (William L. Woolverton, P.I., $1,474,964). R01-DA08731, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2000-2005.
Principal Investigator, Self-control in drug self-administration ($75,068). National Research Service Award (Post-Doctoral NRSA), F32-DA05973, National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2000-2001.
PUBLICATIONS
Recent Publications
Woolverton,
W. L. & Anderson, K. G. (2006). Effects of delay to
reinforcement on the choice between cocaine and food in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacology, 186, 99-106.
Anderson, K. G. & Woolverton, W. L. (2005). Effects of clomipramine on self-control in Lewis and Fischer 344 rats. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 80, 387-393.
Wee, S., Anderson, K. G., Baumann, M., Rothman, R., & Woolverton, W. L. (2005). Relationship between the serotonergic activity and reinforcing effects of a series of amphetamine analogs. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 313, 848-854.
Rothman,
R.B., Blough, B.E., Woolverton, W.L.,
Anderson, K. G. & Woolverton, W. L. (2004). Dose and schedule determinants of cocaine choice under concurrent variable-interval schedules in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacology, 176, 274-280.
Anderson, K. G. & Woolverton, W.
L. (2003). Effects of dose and infusion delay on cocaine
self-administration choice in rhesus monkeys.
Psychopharmacology, 167, 424-430.
Anderson, K. G., Velkey, A., &
Woolverton, W. L. (2002). The generalized matching law as a predictor
of choice between cocaine and food in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacology,
163, 319-326.
Ranaldi, R., Anderson, K. G., Carroll, F.
I., & Woolverton, W. L. (2000). Reinforcing and discriminative stimulus
effects of RTI 111, a 3-phenyltropane, in rhesus monkeys: interaction with methamphetamine. Psychopharmacology,
153, 103-110.
Anderson, K. G. & Woolverton, W.
L. (2000). Concurrent variable-interval drug
self-administration and the generalized matching law: a drug-class comparison. Behavioural
Pharmacology, 11, 413-420.
Anderson, K. G. & van Haaren, F. (2000).
Effects of SCH-23390 and raclopride on cocaine discrimination in male
and female Wistar rats. Pharmacology Biochemistry & Behavior, 65,
671-675.
PRESENTATIONS
Recent
invited addresses and symposia presentations
Anderson,
K. G. Delay discounting: some drug
effects and methodological considerations.
Twenty-third Annual Meeting of the Southeastern
Association for Behavior Analysis,
Anderson, K. G. Decisions, decisions: the psychology of good and bad choices. Eberly College of Arts and Sciences West Virginia University Homecoming Lecture Series, Morgantown, WV, October 2005.
Anderson, K. G. & Woolverton, W.
L. Near and dear: control of drug choice by time to
reinforcement. Annual Meeting of the Behavioral Pharmacology Society,
Anderson, K. G. Effects of dose and infusion delay on cocaine
self-administration choice in rhesus monkeys.
Annual Meeting of the College on
the Problems of Drug Dependence,
Anderson, K. G. Looking beyond the drug: the importance of
environmental context. Annual Meeting of the International Study
Group Investigating Drugs as Reinforcers, Scottsdale, AZ, June 2001.
Recent
poster presentations
Bruner,
N. R. & Anderson, K. G. Effects of
corticosterone on delay discounting in rats.
Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the
Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis,
Diller,
J. W. & Anderson, K. G. Choice
between a single shock and three shocks in a discrete-trials procedure. Twenty-Third
Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis,
Slezak,
J. M. & Anderson, K. G.
Delay-discounting functions: effects of order of delay
presentation. Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association for
Behavior Analysis,
Anderson, K. G.
&
Diller,
J. W. & Anderson, K. G. A parametric analysis of response-dependent shock intensity and duration
on food-maintained responding in pigeons. Thirty-Second Annual Convention of
the Association for Behavior Analysis,
Elcoro, M. & Anderson, K. G.
Response acquisition with delayed reinforcement in spontaneously
hypertensive rats (SHR). Thirty-Second Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis,
Diller,
J. W. & Anderson, K. G. Impulsive
choice increases as a result of repeated exposure to a self-control/impulsivity
paradigm. Eighth Annual Meeting of the
Diller,
J. W. & Anderson, K. G. Effects of
reinforcement history on impulsive choice.
Twenty-Second Annual Meeting of
the Southeastern Association for Behavior Analysis,
Anderson,
K. G. & Woolverton, W. L. Delay as a
determinant of choice between a high dose and a low dose of cocaine by
monkeys. College on Problems of Drug Dependence Sixty-Seventh Annual Meeting,
Elcoro,
M. & Anderson, K. G. Response
acquisition with delayed reinforcement in Lewis and Fischer 344 rats. Thirty-First
Annual Convention of the Association
for Behavior Analysis,