Projects
Electronic cigarette vaping is rapidly growing in young adults. There is an urgent need to optimize anti-vaping health communication strategies to more effectively educate young adults of vaping-related health risks. Visual imagery that elicits strong emotional arousal have been shown to enhance health communication effectiveness. In this project, we use a survey study to characterize a set of approximately 200 graphic anti-vaping public service announcements (PSAs) that were previously developed by Liu et al. The PSAs are evaluated along key dimensions such as valance, arousal, and perceived effectiveness, which will be integrated into an anti-vaping PSA database for future intervention studies aimed at prevention and cessation.
Sociopsychological determinants of brain functioning and treatment outcome in opioid use disorder (PI: Shi)
Individuals living in adverse social circumstances (e.g., low socioeconomic status [SES], lack of social support) are heavily impacted by the ongoing opioid crisis and are at high risk for opioid overdose. Using functional neuroimaging, we will examine the effects of SES and social support on brain functioning in OUD patients vs. controls and associate brain responses with OUD treatment outcome. It will identify the key neural circuits affected by low SES and low social support that may serve as new targets for future pharmacological and psychosocial interventions. The study is funded by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) Young Investigator Grant (NARSAD).
Opioid use disorder is a multi-faceted disorder that affects multiple neuropsychological domains. Medication-assisted treatments such as methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone have shown overall effectiveness in reducing opioid craving and preventing relapse. However, there is substantial individual variability in treatment response. The study uses multimodal brain imaging and machine learning methods to elucidate the structural and functional brain basis underlying the individual differences in treatment outcomes among patients with opioid use disorder. The study is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
Neurocognitive effects of extended-release naltrexone in the treatment of alcohol use disorder (PIs: Shi & Shinohara)
Extended-release naltrexone is highly effectve in attenuating alcohol craving and reducing alcohol consumption. Moreover, reward drinkers (i.e. those whose drinking is primarily maintained by the rewarding effects of alcohol) were found to respond better to naltrexone treatment than relief drinkers (i.e. those whose drinking is primarily motivated by stress relief). Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate statistics to examine the role of alcohol cue-reactivity and risky decision-making in mediating the effect of extended-release naltrexone on reward drinking. The study is funded by the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) of the University of Pennsylvania.
Brain and behavioral impacts of tobacco packaging and anti-smoking communications (PI: Langleben)
Graphic warning labels (GWLs) on cigarette packs have been adopted by >100 countries worldwide. In the US, GWL introduction has been delayed by legal appeals that claimed that the high level of negative emotional arousal in most GWLs was unnecessarily infringing on the tobacco manufacturers’ free speech. To provide experimental data on the optimal level of negative emotional arousal that GWLs require to be efficacious, we use long-term naturalistic exposure and functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the contribution of arousal to GWL efficacy in a large sample of adult smokers. The study is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Ketogenic diet has been shown to reduce alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcohol intake. The goal of this double-blinded randomized controlled trial is to investigate the effect of a one-dose ketone ester on alcohol consumption in individuals with alcohol use disorder. Functional magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy are used to assess brain function and brain metabolism during ketone ester (vs. placebo) intervention. The study is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).