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 protective 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

-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

-An experimental examination of how stigmatized diagnostic language affects momentary affect and treatment seeking intentions. 

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, 6th 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 6th year graduate student, where he is on his predoctoral internship at the VA Puget Sound, Seattle. 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, 4th year graduate student

Katie is from Shrewsbury, MA, and she earned her BA in Psychology from Smith College in 2021. She is currently a 4^th year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology PhD Program at the University of Wyoming. Her research interests focus on food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) among college students, as well as understanding the 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, pranking Dr. Looby, and hiking.

Anna Petrey, 2nd year graduate student

Anna was born and raised in Amarillo, TX, and she earned her BS in psychology from the University of Alabama in 2020. Shortly after completing her degree, she spent two years working in clinical research at Oregon Health & Science University. Anna is a 2nd year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at the University of Wyoming. Her research currently focuses on the relationship between alcohol and firearms, as well as individual differences in substance use and related behaviors. During her free time, Anna can be found hiking, snowboarding, reading fantasy books, tending to her plants, riding horses, figure skating, watching birds, and cuddling her cats.

Emma Winterlind, 1st year graduate student

Emma grew up in Mölnlycke, Sweden before moving to Greenville, South Carolina at the age of 12. She earned her BA in Psychology from Clemson University in 2022 and her Master’s in Clinical Psychological Sciences from the University of Maryland in 2023. Emma is a 1^st year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at the University of Wyoming. Her research interests surround the biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying the initiation and maintenance of substance use and other risky health behavior in young adults. She is also interested in integrating mechanism-focused research into intervention-focused research. During her free time, Emma enjoys spending time with her dog Grant, watching reality TV, exercising, and cooking.

                                   

 

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

Berry, K. A.*, & Looby, A. (2024). “If you don’t eat, you can get drunk faster”: A qualitative investigation of food and alcohol disturbance (FAD) expectancies. Substance Use & Misuse.

Livingston, N. R.*, Falco, C. A.*, Looby, A., & Stimulant Norms and Prevalence (SNAP) Study Team. (2024). Identifying cannabis risk profiles from expectancies and use behaviors: A person-centered approach. Addiction Research & Theory.

Looby, A., Piccorelli, A. V., Zimmerman, L.*, Falco, C.*, Livingston, N. R.*, Akin, C.**, Benton, S.**, & Juliano, L. M. (2024). Expectancy for Adderall influences subjective mood and drug effects regardless of concurrent caffeine ingestion: A randomized controlled trial. Psychopharmacology, 241, 109-118.

Berry, K. A.*, Livingston, N. R.*, Briles, E.**, Looby, A., & Stimulant Norms and Prevalence (SNAP) Study Team. (2024). Do cannabis motives and expectancies mediate the relation between social anxiety and cannabis consequences?: An expanded application of the motivational model. Cannabis, 6, 67-81.

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.

 

*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 2025.