Research
Faculty Research Interests
- affect, cognition and their interactions with biological rhythms, sleep/arousal system
- circadian rhythms in mammals
- drug addiction, relapse and the brain
- learning and memory systems that influence adaptive/maladaptive behaviors and underlying neurobiology
- maternal caregiving and its regulation by steroid hormones, neuropeptides, and neurotransmitters
- social behavior and the roles of vasopressin and oxytocin
Labs & Research Projects
Arguello Lab
Examining the influence of brain circuits on drug relapses using multidisciplinary approaches. Arguello Lab
Johnson Lab
Studying the neurobiology of learning and memory Johnson Lab
Lonstein Lab
Studying how steroid hormones, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and interactions with offspring affect the neural sites regulating mothers' caregiving and emotional behaviors. Neurobiology of Postpartum Socioemotional Behaviors
Rhythms Research Group
Focusing on issues related to biological rhythms, their mechanisms, their evolution and their role in mental and emotional health Rhythms Research Group
Veenema Lab
Understanding the roles of the neuropeptides vasopressin and oxytocin (as well as opioids and orexin) in regulating social behaviors. Veenema Lab
Recent Publications
*Note: Check Google Scholar and Web of Science for additional recent publications
Bal, A., Gerena, J., Olekanma, D. I., & Arguello, A. A. (2019). Neuronal activation in orbitofrontal cortex subregions: Cfos expression following cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior. Behavioral neuroscience, 133(5), 489-495.
Bredewold, R., & Veenema, A. H. (2018). Sex differences in the regulation of social and anxiety-related behaviors: insights from vasopressin and oxytocin brain systems. Current opinion in neurobiology, 49, 132-140.
Clark, S. L., Costin, B. N., Chan, R. F., Johnson, A. W., Xie, L., Jurmain, J. L., ... & Miles, M. F. (2018). A Whole Methylome Study of Ethanol Exposure in Brain and Blood: An Exploration of the Utility of Peripheral Blood as Proxy Tissue for Brain in Alcohol Methylation Studies. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 42(12), 2360-2368.
Fry, B. R., Russell, N., Gifford, R., Robles, C. F., Manning, C. E., Sawa, A., ... & Johnson, A. W. (2019). Assessing Reality Testing in Mice Through Dopamine-Dependent Associatively Evoked Processing of Absent Gustatory Stimuli. Schizophrenia bulletin.
Hodges, T. E., Eltahir, A. M., Patel, S., Bredewold, R., Veenema, A. H., & McCormick, C. M. (2019). Effects of oxytocin receptor antagonism on social function and corticosterone release after adolescent social instability in male rats. Hormones and behavior, 116, 104579.
Johnson, A. W. (2018). Characterizing ingestive behavior through licking microstructure: Underlying neurobiology and its use in the study of obesity in animal models. International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 64, 38-47.
LeMon, J. V., Sisk, C. L., Klump, K. L., & Johnson, A. W. (2019). Reduced sensitivity to devaluation for instrumental but not consummatory behaviors in binge eating prone rats. Physiology & behavior, 206, 13-21.
Lonstein, J. S. (2019). The dynamic serotonin system of the maternal brain. Archives of women's mental health, 22(2), 237-243.
Lonstein, J. S., Linning-Duffy, K., & Yan, L. (2019). Low daytime light intensity disrupts male copulatory behavior, and upregulates medial preoptic area steroid hormone and dopamine receptor expression, in a diurnal rodent model of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 13.
Nunez, A. A., Yan, L., & Smale, L. (2018). the cost of Activity during the rest Phase: Animal Models and theoretical Perspectives. Frontiers in endocrinology, 9, 72-77.
Pawluski, J. L., Li, M., & Lonstein, J. S. (2019). Serotonin and motherhood: From molecules to mood. Frontiers in neuroendocrinology.
Smith, C. J., DiBenedictis, B. T., & Veenema, A. H. (2019). Comparing vasopressin and oxytocin fiber and receptor density patterns in the social behavior neural network: Implications for cross-system signaling. Frontiers in neuroendocrinology, 1-16.
Yan, L., Smale, L., & Nunez, A. A. (2018). Circadian and photic modulation of daily rhythms in diurnal mammals. European Journal of Neuroscience. 1-16.
Yan, L., Lonstein, J. S., & Nunez, A. A. (2018). Light as a modulator of emotion and cognition: lessons learned from studying a diurnal rodent. Hormones and behavior.