Regents Professor

Ph.D. Michigan State University, 1971

Contact Information

Email: wrightjw@wsu.edu
Office: Johnson Tower 124
Phone: (509) 335-2329
(509) 592-6479

Classes Taught

• Psychology 502: Research Design
• Psychology 505: Teaching Psychology
• Psychology 574: Physiological Psychology

Research Interests

• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Neurochemistry of Memory Consolidation
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Stroke related motor dysfunctions

Selected Publications

Wright, JW, Murphy ES, Wiediger RV, Murphy KL, Harding JW. (2013). Important roles for matrix metalloproteinases and cell adhesion molecules in LTP, habituation, and drug addiction. In Habituation: Theories, Characteristics and Biological Mechanisms. Nova Publishers, Hauppauge, NY. (in press)

Natarajan R, Wright JW, Harding JW. (2013). Matrix metalloproteinase activity is required for nicotine-induced conditioned place preference and context dependent relapse in adolescent female rats. Journal of Experimental Neuroscience, 7: 1-14.

Wright, J.W. and Harding, J.W. (2013). The development of multi-target-directed ligands (MTDL) to treat Alzheimer’s Disease. In Atta-ur-Rahman (Ed.), Frontiers in Clinical Drug Research – Alzheimer Disorders. Bentham Science Publishers, Vol. 1, pp. 1-18, e-book series. (Invited chapter).

Wright, J.W. and Harding, J.W. (2013). The brain renin-angiotensin system: A diversity of functions and implications for CNS diseases. Pflȕgers Archives – European Journal of Physiology, 465:133-151. (Invited review).

McCoy, A.T., Benoist, C.C., Kawas, L.H., Bule, J., Zhu, M., Appleyard, S.M., Wayman, G.A., Wright, J.W., and Harding, J.W. (2012). Evaluation of metabolically stabilized angiotensin IV analogs as pro-cognitive/anti-dementia agents. Journal of Pharmacological and Experimental Therapeutics, 344:141-154.

Professor
Associate Vice President, International Programs

Ph.D. University of Kansas, 1984

Contact Information

Email: paul.whitney@wsu.edu
Office: Bryan Hall 301
Phone: (509) 335-2541

Research Interests

• Memory, Affect, and Decision Making
• Sleep Deprivation Effects on Cognition

I am engaged in collaborative research in cognition and cognitive neuroscience that focuses on the role of working memory and affective processing in executive function and decision making. Our investigations have included studies of how risky decision making is affected by situational factors, particularly sleep deprivation, that can temporarily alter the integration of hit emotional and cold cognitive information.

Dr. Whitney will be considering graduate student applications for Fall 2024 admission to the Experimental Psychology PhD Program.

Selected Publications

Jackson, M.L., Gunzelmann, G., Whitney, P., Hinson, J.M., Belenky, G., Rabat, A., & Van Dongen, H.P.A. (2012). Deconstructing and reconstructing cognitive performance in sleep deprivation. Sleep Medicine Reviews. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2012.06.007

Tucker, A.M., Whitney, P., Belenky, G., Hinson, J.M., & Van Dongen, H.P.A. (2010) Effects of sleep deprivation on dissociated components of executive functioning. Sleep, 33, 47-57.

Whitney, P., & Hinson J.M. (2010). Measurement of cognition in studies of sleep deprivation. In G.A. Kerkhof & H.P.A.Van Dongen (Eds.), Progress in Brain Research, 185, 37-48.

Whitney, P., Rinehart, C.A., & Hinson, J.M. (2008). Framing effects under cognitive load: The role of working memory in risky decisions. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 15, 1179-1184.

Associate Professor

Ph.D. University of California at Santa Barbara, 2004

Contact Information

Email: b_walker@wsu.edu
Office: Johnson Tower 210 / VBR 215
Phone: (509) 335-8526
Website: Laboratory of Alcoholism and Addictions Neuroscience (LAAN)

Classes Taught

• Psychology 198: Honors Introductory Psychology
• Psychology 265: Biopsychological Effects of Alcohol and Other Drugs
• Psychology 301: Seminar – “Catching the Big One – How Drugs of Abuse Keep You on the Hook”
• Psychology 301: Seminar – “If Only We Could Forget – Targeting Reconsolidation for the Treatment of Neuropsychiatric Disorders”
• Psychology 372: Physiological Psychology
• Psychology 401: History of Psychology
• University Honors 270: Principles and Research Methods in Social Sciences

Research Interests

• Neurobiology of Motivational Systems
• Excessive Self-Administration resulting from Alcohol and Drug Dependence
• Chronic Alcohol and Drug-Induced Depression and Anxiety
• Alcohol and Drug-Induced Alterations in Impulsivity
• Plasticity Associated with Negative Reinforcement Mechanisms
• Molecular and Genetic Determinants of Chronic Alcohol and Drug-related Altered Behavioral Regulation
• Adolescent Exposure to Alcohol and Drugs of Abuse

My long-term research interest has been the neurobiology of motivational systems and how acute and long-term alcohol (and other drugs of abuse such as heroin) impact brain reward systems to promote increased drug seeking and consumption. Utilizing a combination of behavioral, anatomical, pharmacological, immunohistochemical, molecular and genetic approaches, we are currently evaluating the neuroadaptations produced by chronic ethanol and opioid exposure that promote enhanced intake of these abused compounds. This excessive intake is hypothesized to reflect the development of negative reinforcement (learning about the reinforcing (response increasing) nature of aversive stimulus removal that occurs when alcohol and drugs are consumed to relieve acute and protracted withdrawal symptoms) processes that compliment positive reinforcement processes governing non-dependent intake that developed earlier in life. Consequently, we are extremely interested in dependence-induced depression and anxiety because they appear to be lay the foundation for the observed increases in the negative reinforcing properties of abused substances. As an extension of this work, we also focus on the morphological and molecular mechanisms of plasticity associated with negative reinforcement learning. The lab is also investigating differences in impulsivity produced by chronic alcohol and drug exposure, as well as, animal models of adolescent alcohol and drug exposure that impact adult alcohol and drug intake. Once enough information is gathered about the nature of the brain’s response to chronic alcohol and drug exposure, that information can be used to help develop pharmacotherapies for the treatment of alcohol and drug addiction.

Selected Publications

Walker BM, Kissler JL (2013): Dissociable Effects of Kappa-Opioid Receptor Activation on Impulsive Phenotypes in Wistar Rats. Neuropsychopharmacology, doi: 10.1038/npp.2013.129.

Kissler JL, Sirohi S, Reis DJ, Jansen HT, Quock RM, Smith DG, Walker BM (2013). The One-Two Punch of Alcoholism: Role of Central Amygdala Dynorphins/Kappa-Opioid Receptors. Biological Psychiatry, doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.03.014.

Berger AL, Williams AM, McGinnis MM, Walker BM (2013). Affective Cue-Induced Escalation of Alcohol Self-Administration and Increased 22-kHz Ultrasonic Vocalizations during Alcohol Withdrawal: Role of Kappa-Opioid Receptors. Neuropsychopharmacology 38: 647-654.

Sirohi S, Bakalkin G and Walker BM (2012). Alcohol-induced plasticity in the dynorphin / kappa-opioid receptor system. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2012. 00095.

Williams AM, Reis DJ, Powell AS; Neira LJ, Nealey KA, Ziegler CE, Kloss N, Bilimoria JL, Smith CE and Walker BM (2012). The Effect of Intermittent Alcohol Vapor or Pulsatile Heroin on Somatic and Negative Affective Indices during Spontaneous Withdrawal in Wistar Rats. Psychopharmacology, 223, 1, 75-88.

Walker BM (2012). Conceptualizing Withdrawal-Induced Escalation of Alcohol Self-Administration as a Learned, Plasticity-Dependent Process. Alcohol, 46, 4, 339-348.

Walker BM, Valdez GR, McLaughlin JP and Bakalkin G (2012). Targeting dynorphin / kappa-opioid receptor systems to treat alcohol abuse and dependence. Alcohol, 46, 4, 359-370.

Smith AW, Nealey KA, Wright JW and Walker BM (2011). Plasticity associated with escalated operant ethanol self-administration during acute withdrawal in ethanol-dependent rats requires intact matrix metalloproteinase systems. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 96, 199-206.

Nealey KA, Smith AW, Davis SM, Smith DG and Walker BM (2011). K-opioid receptors are implicated in the increased potency of intra-accumbens nalmefene in ethanol-dependent rats. Neuropharmacology, 61, 35-42

Walker BM, Zorrilla EP, Koob GF (2011). Systemic K-opioid receptor antagonism by nor-binaltorphimine reduces dependence-induced excessive alcohol self-administration in rats. Addiction Biology, 16, 1, 116-119.

Walker JL, Walker BM, Fuentes FM, Rector DM (2011). Rat psychomotor vigilance task with fast response times using a conditioned lick behavior. Behavioural Brain Research, 216, 1, 229-237.

Walker BM, Drimmer DA, Walker JL, Liu T, Mathe AA, Ehlers CE (2010). Effects of prolonged ethanol vapor exposure on forced swim behavior, and neuropeptide Y and corticotropin releasing factor levels in rat brains. Alcohol, 44, 6, 487-493.