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Levi Bolin

Research Interests:
Psychology
Neuroscience
Psychopharmacology
Learning & Behavior
Risk-taking Behavior
Sexual Behavior
Stimulant Abuse
Alcohol Abuse
Experimental Design
Behavioral pharmacology
Brain Stimulation
Neuroimaging
Decision Making

I am a native Kentuckian from Paducah, Kentucky. After receiving my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Kentucky in May of 2006, I entered graduate school at UK to pursue my Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology under the direction and supervision of Dr. Chana K. Akins. My graduate research centered on investigating the effects of commonly abused psychostimulant drugs on sexual behavior and aspects of classicaly conditioned and operant learning processes in Japanese quail.

After earning my Ph.D. in December of 2012, I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in human behavioral pharmacology under the supervision of Drs. Craig R. Rush and William W. Stoops in the Department of Behavioral Science within the UK College of Medicine. My postdoctoral research evaluated candidate medications to treat stimulant-use disorders and investigated behavioral processes involved in sexual risk-taking behavior in stimulant-using populations. In the Fall of 2016, I accepted a postdoctoral teaching fellowship in the Department of Psychology at UK, where I taught undergraduate courses in research methods (PSY 215) and basic neuroscience (PSY 312).

I joined the Neurobehavioral Systems Lab (NSL), under the direction of Dr. Michael J. Wesley, in January 2018. The NSL utilizes cutting-edge, human neuroscience (fMRI, spectroscopy, diffusion tensor imaging), neuromodulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation, transcranial electrical stimulation), behavioral pharmacology, and basic behavioral research techniques to study the underlying mechanisms of and evaluate novel treatment strategies for conditions that produce neurobehavioral dysfunction. Current research in the NSL focuses on neuromodulation as a putative treatment for cannabis-use disorder in emerging adults and the neurobehavioral mechanisms of drug choice in cocaine-use disorder.

Selected Publications:

14. Bolin, B. L., Alcorn III, J. L., Lile, J. A., Rush, C. R., Rayapati, A. O., Hays, L. R., & Stoops, W. W. (2017). N-Acetylcysteine reduces cocaine-cue attentional bias and differentially alters cocaine self-administration based on dosing order. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 178, 452-460. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.05.039

13. Akins, C. K., Bolin, B. L., & Gill, K. E. (2017). Cocaine pre-exposure enhances sexual conditioning and increases resistance to extinction in male Japanese quail. Learning & Behavior. doi: 10.3758/s13420-017-0274-1

12. Strickland, J. C., Bolin, B. L., **Romanelli, M. R., Rush, C. R., & Stoops, W. W. (2017). Effects of acute buspirone administration on inhibitory control and sexual discounting in cocaine users. Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, 32, e2567. doi: 10.1002/hup.2567

11. Strickland, J. C., Bolin, B. L., Lile, J. A., Rush, C. R., & Stoops, W. W. (2016). Differential sensitivity to learning from positive and negative outcomes in cocaine users. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 166, 61-68. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.06.022

10. Bolin, B. L., Alcorn III, J. L., Reynolds, A. R., Lile, J. A., & Rush, C. R. (2016). Human drug discrimination: A primer and methodological review. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 24(4), 214-228. doi: 10.1037/pha0000077

9. Bolin, B. L., Lile, J. A., Marks, K. R., Beckmann, J. S., Rush, C. R., & Stoops, W. W. (2016). Buspirone reduces sexual risk-taking intent but not cocaine self-administration. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 24(3), 162-173. doi: 10.1037/pha0000076

8. Bolin, B. L., Stoops, W. W., **Sites, J. P., & Rush, C. R. (2016). Abuse potential of oral phendimetrazine in cocaine-dependent individuals: Implications for agonist-like replacement therapy. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 10(3), 156-165. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000206

7. Bolin, B. L., *Singleton, D. L.,  & Akins, C. K. (2014). Pavlovian discriminative stimulus effects of methamphetamine in male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 102(1), 126-138. doi: 10.1002/jeab.92

6. Bolin, B. L., Reynolds, A. R., Stoops, W. W., & Rush, C. R. (2013). Relationship between oral d-amphetamine self-administration and ratings of subjective effects: Do subjective-effects ratings correspond with a progressive-ratio measure of drug-taking behavior? Behavioural Pharmacology, 24(5), 533-542. doi: 10.1097/FBP.0b013e3283645047

5. Reynolds, A. R., Bolin, B. L., Stoops, W. W., & Rush, C. R. (2013). Relationship between drug discrimination and ratings of subjective effects: Implications for assessing and understanding the abuse potential of amphetamine in humans. Behavioural Pharmacology, 24(5), 523-532. doi: 10.1097/FBP.0b013e328364505f.

4. Bolin, B. L., *Cornett, H., *Barnes, A. F., Gill, K. E. & Akins, C. K. (2012). Nicotine induces a conditioned place preference in male Japanese quail. Physiology and Behaviour, 107(3), 364-367. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2012.08.005

3. Bolin, B. L., & Akins, C. K. (2012). Chronic pre-exposure to methamphetamine following 31 days of withdrawal impairs sexual performance but not sexual conditioning in male Japanese quail. Behavioural Processes, 91, 177-183. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2012.07.004

2. *Rosine, B. J., Bolin, B. L., & Akins, C. K. (2009). Chronic exposure to methylphenidate cross-sensitizes methamphetamine in male Japanese quail. Behavioural Pharmacology, 20, 352-355. doi: 10.1097/FBP.0b013e32832ec615

1. Bolin, B. L., & Akins, C. K. (2009). Methamphetamine impairs sexual motivation but not sexual performance in male Japanese quail. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 17(1), 10-20. doi: 10.1037/a0014505