|
Michael N. Dretsch
Post-doctoral Research Associate |
 |
|||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ph.D. Psychology
Department of Psychology |
Research Interests:
My doctoral training focused on the psychological processes involved in emotional decision making. This involved disentangling the cognitive and emotional components that contribute to the widely used decision making analogue, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT: Bechara et al., 1994). Evidence shows that normal performance on the IGT relies on affective processing associated with cortical regions such as the ventromedial portion of the orbitofrontal cortex (Bechara et al., 2000), and less so on other frontal regions such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (Bechara et al., 1998; Manes et al., 2002). A number of other populations show decision making impairments detected by the IGT such as polysubstance abusers (Bechara et al., 2004; Stout et al., 2005), pathological gamblers (Goudriaan et al., 2006), and psychopathic individuals (Schmitt et al., 1999). Using dual task procedures, my research provided evidence that performance on the IGT relies on available working memory capacity. Additional findings indicated that individual differences influence decision making performance. More specifically, my research revealed a positive correlation between impulsive sensation seeking scores (ImpSS; Zuckerman et al., 2003) and performance on a variant version of the task which has been shown to be sensitive to both hyperarousal for future consequences (positive and negative) and hyperarousal for rewards in substance dependent individuals (Bechara et al., 2002).
My current research includes investigating the effects of alcohol on emotional response, cognition, and behavior. This involves exploration of the effects of acute alcohol intoxication on neural mechanisms of cognitive control implemented during response modulation. In addition, family history of alcohol dependence, personality traits, and possible endophenotypic markers (e.g., SPN, P3, NSW, N2 Event-Related Potential waveform) will be used to assess sensitivity to alcohol challenge and cognitive control in individuals at risk for the development of alcohol use disorders. My research also involves exploring the effects of acute alcohol intoxication on the affective (assessed via Electrodermal-Skin Conductance Responses and ERP), cognitive, and behavioral correlates of human decision making. My interests include using fMRI to investigate the effects of acute alcohol intoxication on neurocognitive mechanisms associated with various regions of the prefrontal cortex (e.g., orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, etc).
More to come...
