Howerter Deanna D, Larson Jonathan G, Hill Evan M
Psychology Department, University of Nebraska - Kearney, Kearney, NE 68849.
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2018 Dec 15;17(1):A72-A80. eCollection 2018 Fall.
Presented is a lab exercise designed to augment an upper-level undergraduate class covering the topics of psychopharmacology, biopsychology, physiological psychology, or introductory neuroscience. The exercise was developed as a tool to allow students to investigate behavioral correlates of oral psychomotor stimulant ingestion and observe firsthand the benefits and challenges of using animal models to study behavior. The purpose of the exercise was to observe the unconditioned, natural behaviors of laboratory rats prior to, and following, the oral administration of commonly used, over-the-counter psychomotor stimulants, and for students to experience the process of neuroscience research. Of specific interest was the comparison of behaviors demonstrated by the animals following ingestion of the nonprescription stimulants caffeine and pseudoephedrine. Students went through the steps of a research project by actively participating in all aspects of experimental design, including construction of testing apparatus, animal care, drug measurement and dosage, data collection, and analyzing behavioral data to determine animal response to psychomotor stimulant exposure. Through repetition of treatment conditions separated by a clearance phase, students observed experiment replication and learned about a research design commonly applied in animal research. Successful replication of treatment effects also served to exemplify the concepts of reliability and validity in behavioral research, while observable responses in animal models provided students with the opportunity to extrapolate important considerations for differential behavioral effects of psychostimulant consumption in humans.
这里展示的是一个实验室练习，旨在加强本科高年级课程的教学，该课程涵盖精神药理学、生物心理学、生理心理学或神经科学导论等主题。这个练习是作为一种工具开发的，让学生研究口服精神运动兴奋剂摄入的行为相关性，并亲身体验使用动物模型研究行为的益处和挑战。该练习的目的是观察实验室大鼠在口服常用的非处方精神运动兴奋剂之前和之后的无条件自然行为，并让学生体验神经科学研究的过程。特别感兴趣的是比较动物在摄入非处方兴奋剂咖啡因和伪麻黄碱后的行为表现。学生通过积极参与实验设计的各个方面，经历了一个研究项目的步骤，包括测试设备的构建、动物护理、药物测量和剂量、数据收集以及分析行为数据以确定动物对精神运动兴奋剂暴露的反应。通过重复由清除期分隔的治疗条件，学生观察了实验的重复，并了解了动物研究中常用的一种研究设计。治疗效果的成功重复也例证了行为研究中的可靠性和有效性概念，而动物模型中的可观察反应为学生提供了机会，以推断精神兴奋剂消费对人类行为产生不同影响的重要考虑因素。
