Addictive Behaviors Laboratory

Principal Investigator: Dr. Alison Looby

Email: alooby@uwyo.edu

 

Research Focus

My laboratory broadly examines substance use behaviors, with a focus on college student alcohol, cannabis, and stimulant use. Much of our research aims to examine and subsequently modify cognitive and behavioral mechanisms underlying substance use, including expectancy effects, motives, and productive behavioral strategies. Research in my laboratory tends to be experimental and laboratory-based, though we are also employing some naturalistic methodology. Selected recent research studies in my laboratory include:

-An experimental examination of anticipatory and resultant desire to drink following a social stressor task: interactions with social anxiety symptoms, coping motives, and type of social feedback.

-Developmental and psychometric validation of an expectancy measure for Food and Alcohol Disturbance (FAD)

-An examination of enhancements to prescription stimulant placebo effects when participants are allowed a choice

-An examination of subjective mood and neuropsychological performance as a function of stimulant type and expectancy

-A randomized, controlled trial to test the efficacy of a combined expectancy modification and harm reduction intervention to prevent nonmedical prescription stimulant use among at-risk college students

-Ecological momentary assessment to understand relations among simultaneous alcohol and marijuana use with affect, motives, and environmental context

-An experimental examination of the incremental utility of text message reminders to improve the use of alcohol protective behavioral strategies

Recent Grant Funding:

Screening and Brief Intervention for Prescription Stimulant Misuse and Diversion: Refining and Piloting a Curriculum for College Health Providers
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Role: Co-I (PI Niloofar Bavarian, California State University, Long Beach)
7/2023-7/2026

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment to Understand Contextual Factors and Fluctuations in Affect Related to Simultaneous Alcohol and Marijuana Use
University of Wyoming Faculty Grant-in-Aid
Role: PI
7/2021-6/2022

Preventing Prescription Stimulant Diversion and Medication Misuse Via a Web-Based Simulation Intervention
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Role: Co-I (PI Laura Holt, Trinity College; Co-I Ty Schepis, Texas State University)
7/2020 -7/2024

Efficacy of Expectancy Challenges to Prevent Nonmedical Prescription Stimulant Use
Wyoming INBRE, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Role: PI
5/2018 - 4/2020

Lab Members:

 

 

 Nick Livingston, 5th year graduate student

Nick was born and raised in Oregon's Willamette Valley before earning his BS in psychology from the University of Oregon in 2017. He is currently a 5th year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology PhD Program at the University of Wyoming. His research primarily focuses on the interplay between sleep and substance use, examining factors implicated in substance use initiation and maintenance (e.g., expectancies, motives), and how substance use can be modified through targeted interventions. During his free time, Nick enjoys the company of friends and family, snowboarding, and traveling.

 

 

 Katherine Berry, 3rd year graduate student

Katie is from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, and earned her BA in Psychology from Smith College in 2021. She is currently a 3rd-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology PhD Program at the University of Wyoming. Her research interests focus on food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) behaviors among college students, as well as understanding the underlying cognitive mechanisms that initiate and maintain substance use. During her free time, Katie enjoys binge-watching trashy reality tv, spending time with friends and family, reading, and hiking.

Anna Petrey, 1st year graduate student

Anna was born and raised in Amarillo, TX and earned her BS in psychology from the University of Alabama in 2020. She spent the last two years working in clinical research at Oregon Health & Sciences University. Anna is a 1st year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at the University of Wyoming. Her research interests include intervention for substance use disorders and misuse, factors contributing to sustained abstinence and recovery, and individual differences associated with developing addictive behaviors. During her free time, Anna can be found hiking, snowboarding, reading fantasy books, tending to her plants, riding her motorcycle, and cuddling her cats.

                                  

 

Lab Alumni:

-Tess Kilwein, PhD: Clinical and Sport Psychologist, Vanderbilt University, TN
- Lauren Zimmerman, PhD: Postdoctoral Resident, Premier Sport Psychology, MN

Recent and Representative Publications

Looby, A., Piccorelli, A. V., Zimmerman, L.*, Falco, C.*, Livingston, N. R.*, Akin, C.**, Benton, S.**, & Juliano, L. M. (in press). Expectancy for Adderall influences subjective mood and drug effects regardless of concurrent caffeine ingestion: A randomized controlled trial. Psychopharmacology.

Berry, K. A.*, Livingston, N. R.*, Briles, E.**, Looby, A., & Stimulant Norms and Prevalence (SNAP) Study Team. (in press). Do cannabis motives and expectancies mediate the relation between social anxiety and cannabis consequences?: An expanded application of the motivational model. Cannabis.

Livingston, N. R.*, Berry, K. A.*, Meier, E., Looby, A., & Harm Reduction Research Team. (2023). Use of both alcohol and cannabis protective behavioral strategies is associated with fewer negative consequences: A moderation analysis. Substance Use & Misuse, 58, 989-995.

Looby, A., Prince, M. A., Livingston, N. R.*, Berry, K. A.*, & Harm Reduction Research Team. (2023). An examination of the effects of ADHD symptoms and sex on the relation between cannabis protective behavioral strategies and cannabis consequences. Addictive Behaviors, 144, 107718.

Livingston, N. R.*, Hetelkides, E., Bravo, A. J., Looby, A., & Stimulant Norms and Prevalence (SNAP) Study Team. (2023). Negative affect regulation and marijuana use in college students: Evaluating the mediating roles of coping and sleep motives. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 55, 203-212.

Berry, K. A.*, Livingston, N. R.*, Looby, A., & Stimulant Norms and Prevalence (SNAP) Study Team. (2023). Relations between higher- and lower-order alcohol and cannabis expectancies and simultaneous use frequency among undergraduate dual users. Addiction Research & Theory, 31, 45-51.

Falco, C. A.*, Zimmerman, L.*, Vasko, J., Flory, K., Hartung, C., Meisner, M., & Looby, A. (2023). Drinking motives mediate the relation between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and alcohol-related problems among college students. Emerging Adulthood, 11, 535-545.

Looby, A., Prince, M. A., Vasko, J. M., Zimmerman, L.*, Flory, K., Lefler, E. K., Canu, W., & Hartung, C. M. (2021). Relations among protective behaviors strategies, biological sex, and ADHD on alcohol use and alcohol-related problems: Who benefits most, and from what type of strategy? Addictive Behaviors, 119, 106924. 

Looby, A., Zimmerman, L.*, & Livingston, N. R.* (2021). Expectation for stimulant type modifies caffeine’s effects on mood and cognition among college students. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.

Falco, C.*, De Young, K. P., Kilwein, T. M., Livingston, N. R.*, & Looby, A. (2021). Cannabis use is differentially associated with individual facets of impulsivity through expectancy effects: A comprehensive application of the Acquired Preparedness Model. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.

 Looby, A., Bravo, A. J., Kilwein, T. M.*, Zimmerman, L.*, Pearson, M. R., & Protective Strategies Study Team. (2019). Protective behavioral strategies mediate the relationship between drinking motives and risky sexual behaviors in college students. Addictive Behaviors, 93, 1-8.  

 

*Denotes graduate student author under my supervision
** Denotes undergraduate student author under my supervision

Prospective Graduate Students:

Dr. Looby will be reviewing applications for graduate students applying for fall 2024.