About WCALB

The Winter Conference is a friendly and informal meeting that provides an opportunity to combine intensive, scientifically rigorous discussions on a variety of topics related to animal conditioning, behavior and learning with skiing at one of Colorado's premier ski areas, Winter Park. The breadth of WCALB paper sessions that reflect the research interests of participants can be seen in recent programs posted on the website. All participants are invited to make a presentation and suggest topics. Graduate students are welcome, and can make a presentation with the written recommendation of their advisor.

• Winter Conference on Animal Learning and Behavior
                        Winter Park, Colorado
                    February 2 - February 6, 2013
  
  

• Saturday, February 2, 2013

  
  7:30pm -- Buffet Reception
  Snowblaze Building B - Unit 34
  
  All sessions are in the Conference Room that is on the second floor of Snowblaze, main building. The Conference Room will open a half-hour before a session is scheduled to begin for those who want to arrive early and "mingle". Five minutes is added to indicated presentation times for discussion.
  
  
  

   Sunday, February 3, 2013*

  
               4:00pm – Keynote Address
                     Carl Danson, Chair
  
  
                Behavioral Dependence
  
                    Patrick M. Beardsley
           Virginia Commonwealth University
                                &
                        Jack Bergman
                 Harvard Medical School
  
  
  Abstract-- Pharmacological state (or context) and history can direct the expression of learned behavior (e.g., state dependent learning, drug discrimination). Additionally, abrupt drug abstinence can control the expression of learned behavior, a phenomenon that can be defined as behavioral dependence. In this presentation, examples of behavioral dependence will be described and contrasted with physical dependence. In addition, the potential ramifications of behavioral dependence, as well as the implications for regulatory control of drugs, will be considered.
  
  Patrick Beardsley is a behavioral pharmacologist whose research interests focus upon the development of medications for CNS disorders. He obtained his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology at the University of Minnesota in 1982, and currently is Professor of Pharmacology & Toxicology and member of the Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies and the Center for Biomarker Research and Personalized Medicine at the Virginia Commonwealth University.
  
  Jack Bergman is a CNS pharmacologist with interests in the pharmacological and contextual determinants of drug abuse and drug dependence. He obtained his Ph.D. in Pharmacological and Physiological Sciences at the University of Chicago in 1981 and, currently, is the director of the Preclinical Pharmacology laboratory in the Mailman Research Institute at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.
   
  Ten-Minute Break
• 
  
  

  Sunday, February 3, 2013*

  
  5:30pm-Focus Session
  Carl Danson, Chair
  
  Pharmacological History and the Control and Expression of Learning and Behavior
  
  
  Recent Pharmacological History Matters in Smoking Cessation: Modeling the Influence of Initial Smoking Abstinence. . Stephen T. Higgins (University of Vermont Medical School) (25-min)
  
  Conditioning History and the Conditioned Inhibition of Drug Seeking. Stanley J. Weiss & David N. Kearns. (American University) (25-min)
  
  . . .
• 
  
  

  Monday, February 4, 2013*

  
  4:00pm -- Focus Session (Continued)
  Scott Cohn, Chair
  
  Amplification of Incentive Learning by Nicotine: Evidence From Operant Conditioning and Pavlovian Conditioned Approach Models. Matthew I. Palmatier & A. Brianna Sheppard (East Tennessee State University) (25-min)
  
  Contextual and Behavioral Control of Antipsychotic-Induced Sensitization and Tolerance. Ming Li (University of Nebraska) (25-min)
  
  Adolescent Nicotine Alters Hippocampal Neuron Morphology. Daniel G. Ehlinger, Hadley C. Bergstrom, Abdullah Ismail, Craig G. McDonald, & Robert F. Smith (George Mason University) (25-min)
  
  Ten-Minute Break
  
  Effects of Nicotine on Response-Withholding Performance in an Animal Model of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Federico Sanabria, Gabriel J. Mazur, Gabriel Wood-Isenberg, & Elizabeth Watterson. (Arizona State University) (25-min)
  
  Acquisition and Escalation of Cocaine Self-Administration During Continuous NMDA Receptor Blockade. Richard M. Allen (University of Colorado-Denver) (25-min)
  
  . . .
  
  
  8:15pm --Conference Dinner at Fontanot's
   
  
  

  Tuesday, February 5, 2013

  
  4:00pm -- Enhanced Self-Administration and Incentive-Motivation
  Daniel Ehlinger, Chair
  
  Short access procedure for studying escalation of cocaine self-administration. Richard M. Allen (University of Colorado-Denver) (15-min)
  
  Neurobiological mechanisms of antipsychotic sensitization and tolerance: Some preliminary findings. Ming Li (University of Nebraska) (15-min)
  
  Experimenter-Administered Caffeine Increases Alcohol Self-Administration in Rats. Matthew I. Palmatier, Scott A. Jones, A. Brianna Sheppard (East Tennessee State University) (15-min)
  
  The Instrumentally-Derived Incentive-Motive Function: Introduction and Implications. Stanley J. Weiss (American University) (20-min)
  
  Ten-Minute Break
  
  . . .
  
  
  5:30pm – Research Seminar Session: Pharmacological History and the Control and Expression of Learning and Behavior
  
  Patrick Beardsley & Jack Bergman, Facilitators
  
  Richard Allan, Dan Elinger, Steve Higgins, Ming Li, Matt Palmatier, Federico Sanabria and Stan Weiss with contributions by all conference participants encouraged.
  
  . . .
  
  
  
  

  Wednesday, February 6, 2013

• Check out time is 10am
  
  . . .
  
  

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Recent WCALB Focus sessions have been concerned with:

• Theory of Mind: Current Status of the Controversy (2012)
• Bi-directional Links Between Obesity & Learning & Memory Dysfunction (2011)
• Rational Rats: Causal Inference and Reality Monitoring (2010)
• Economic Demand, Reinforcer Essential Value and Drug Addiction (2009)
• Remembering and Anticipating Events in Time (2008)
• Modeling Data: From Description & Significance to Behavior & Theories (2007)
• The Question of Animal Consciousness and Cognition (2006)
• Choice in Humans and other Animals (2005)
• Associative Mechanisms and Drug-Related Behavior (2004)
• Learning, Choice and Context Effects (2003).

The 2004 & 2010 Focus Sessions were published as Special Issues of the International Journal of Comparative Psychology.

There is downhill skiing for all skill levels, up to black diamond, as well as exciting cross-country skiing in the Arapaho National Forest, Devil's Thumb and Snow Mountain Ranch. The majestic snow-covered Rockies in winter are breathtaking.