RIA: Principal Investigator - Jerry B. Richards, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

Jerry B. Richards, PhD

Psychobiology

Primary Research Areas

Drug abuse, animal and human models of impulsivity, sensation seeking, behavioral neuroscience, and the experimental analysis of behavior.

Current Projects

Drug abuse and impulsivity: Tests of animal models (funded by NIDA). Investigating impulsive behavior and its relations to drug abuse by developing valid animal models of impulsive behavior and operationalizing different concepts of impulsivity, in collaboration with Co-investigator Alexis C. Thompson, PhD

Effects of negative consequences on drug self administration in rats (funded by NIDA). Investigating a rodent model of self administration (SA) in which drug consumption has delayed negative consequences with the goal of better understanding of the behavioral and cognitive regulation of drug abuse (in collaboration with Co-investigator Alexis C. Thompson, PhD, 2009-2011.

On-going Research

Inhibitory control and clinical response in ADHD (funded by NIMH). Investigating the effects of both methylphenidate (MPH) and performance-based motivational incentives (i.e., monetary rewards, an analogue of behavioral treatment) on laboratory measures of inhibitory control, working memory, sustained attention, and delay-related impulsivity in children with ADHD (in collaboration with Principal Investigator Larry Hawk and Co-Principal Investigator William Pelham, both of UB’s Department of Psychology and Co-investigators James Waxmonsky, UB Department of Psychiatry, and Gregory Wilding, UB Department of Biostatistics; subaccount to Co-investigator Dr. Richards, RIA, 2005-2010.

Sensory reinforcement and drug abuse. Investigating the effects of the psychomotor stimulants on the reward value of sensory stimuli. We hypothesize that psychomotor stimulants increase the rewarding value of sensory stimuli and that this increase in reward contributes to the addictive potential of psychomotor stimulants such as methamphetamine and nicotine. This research has important implications for understanding the processes through which individuals become addicted to psychomotor stimulant drugs.

Genetic and behavioral dissection of inhibitory control (funded by NIMH). Investigating biochemical changes underlying impaired inhibitory control in dopamine transporter expression (DAT knockdown) mice (Award made to Xiaoxi Zhuang, PhD, University of Chicago, sub-award to Jerry R. Richards, PhD).

Representative and Recent Publications

Spencer, S. V., Hawk, L. W., Jr., Richards, J. B., Shields, K., Pelham, W. E., Jr., & Waxmonsky, J. G. (2009). Stimulant treatment reduces lapses in attention among children with ADHD: The effects of methylphenidate on intra-individual response on time distributions. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37, 805-816.

Krall, C. M., Richards, J. B., Rabin, R. A., & Winter, J. C. (2008). Marked decrease of LSD-induced stimulus control in serotonin transporter knockout mice. Pharmacological Biochemical Behavior, 88, 349-357.

Baschnagel, J. S., Hawk, L. W., Jr., Colder, C. R., & Richards, J. B. (2007). Motivated attention and prepulse inhibition of startle in rats: Using conditioned reinforcers as prepulses. Behavioral Neuroscience, 121, 1372-1382.

Shiels, K., Hawk, L.W., Jr., & Richards, J. B. (2007). Individual differences in conditioned reward: The observing procedure. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 15-25.

Acheson, A., Farrar, A. M., Patak, M., Hausknecht, K. A., Kieres, A. K., Choi, S., de Wit, H., & Richards, J. B. (2006). Nucleus accumbens lesions decrease sensitivity to rapid changes in the delay to reinforcement. Behavioural Brain Research, 173, 217-228.

de Wit, H., & Richards, J. B. (2004). Dual determinants of drug abuse: Reward and impulsivity. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 50, 19-44.

Lejuez, C. W., Aklin, W. M., Jones, H. A., Richards, J. B., Strong, D. R., Kahler, C. W., & Read, J. P. (2003). The Balloon Analogue Risk Taking Task (BART) differentiates smokers and nonsmokers. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 11, 26-33.

Sabol, K. E., Richards, J. B., Broom, S. L., Roach, J. T., & Hauskneckt, K. (2003). Effects of stimulus salience and methamphetamine on reaction time in the rat: Central tendency vs. distribution skew. Behavioral Pharmacology, 14, 489-500.

Feola, T. W., de Wit, H., & Richards, J. B. (2000). Effects of d-amphetamine and alcohol on a measure of behavioral inhibition in rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 114, 838-848.

Richards, J. B., Zhang, L., Mitchell, S. H., & de Wit, H. (1999). Delay and probability discounting in a model of impulsive behavior: Effect of alcohol. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 71, 121-143.

Richards, J. B., Mitchell, S. H., de Wit, H., & Seiden, L. S. (1997). Determination of discount functions in rats with an adjusting amount procedure. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 67, 353-366.