Browsing by Author "Bates, Sage M."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Behavioral Measurement of Sensation Seeking Shows Positive Association with Risky Behaviors
    (Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2015-04-17) Bates, Sage M.; Myslinski, Jeremy S.; Winters, Drew E.; De Jesus, Jean S.; Cyders, Melissa A.; Oberlin, Brandon G.
    Sensation seeking (SS; the tendency to seek out experiences that are highly varied, novel, and intense, and the willingness to take risks in order to have such experiences) is strongly related to risky behavior. However, most prior research has relied on self-report assessments of SS, which are limited by subject biases and lack of insight. This study is designed to develop and optimize a behavioral assessment of SS to be used in future brain imaging studies, and to evaluate the relationship of this behavior with selfreported SS and risky behaviors. The novel behavioral SS task employed in this study presents participants with olfactory sensory stimuli and assesses the individual’s preference to seek varied, novel, and intense sensations, with the risk of an unpleasant stimulus (“Varied”; e.g. strong orange, rose, linalyl acetate, and propionic acid) vs. weaker and mildly pleasant sensations (“Standard”; weak vanillin, orange, and rose) across two twenty-trial sessions. Hypothesis: greater preference for “Varied” odors will correlate with self-reported SS and risky behaviors. Odorants are presented as a 1-sec burst via an airdilution olfactometer within a filtered airstream. Participants are being recruited from the Introduction to Psychology class at IUPUI (currently n = 11 total, mean age (SD) = 21.2, (5.4), n = 8 women, n = 7 Caucasian). The mean preference for “Varied” was 50%, range = 28-75%. Preference for “Varied” showed a moderate relationship with negative risky behaviors (r = 0.35) and SS (Zuckerman Thrill/Adventure seeking subscale; r = 0.48), suggesting that the behavioral task is associating as expected with these self-report variables. These preliminary data suggests the feasibility of behavioral SS assessment; behavioral characterization will permit examination of how SS influences brain activity, without the limitations of self-report. How SS affects choice of and reactions to new and exciting experiences has important research and clinical implications.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Quantifying Behavioral Sensation Seeking With the Aroma Choice Task
    (SAGE, 2019-07-27) Oberlin, Brandon G.; Ramer, Nolan E.; Bates, Sage M.; Shen, Yitong I.; Myslinski, Jeremy S.; Kareken, David A.; Cyders, Melissa A.; Psychiatry, School of Medicine
    Our goal was to develop a behavioral measure of sensation seeking (SS). The Aroma Choice Task (ACT) assesses preference for an intense, novel, varied, and risky (exciting) option versus a mild, safe (boring) option using real-time odorant delivery. A total of 147 healthy young adults completed 40 binary choice trials. We examined (1) intensity and pleasantness of odorants, (2) stability of responding, (3) association with SS self-report, and (4) association with self-reported illicit drug use. Participants’ preference for the “exciting” option versus the safe option was significantly associated with self-reported SS (p < .001) and illicit drug use (p = .041). Odorant ratings comported with their intended intensity. The ACT showed good internal, convergent, and criterion validity. We propose that the ACT might permit more objective SS assessment for investigating the biological bases of psychiatric conditions marked by high SS, particularly addiction. The ACT measures SS behaviorally, mitigating some self-report challenges and enabling real-time assessment, for example, for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).