Psychopharmacology Week 3 Quiz

Course Information

• Course name: Psychopharmacology of Addictive Behaviour
• Course code: PYB260
• Week: 3
• Lecturer: Melanie White

Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners

• QUT acknowledges the Turrbal and Yugara peoples as the First Nations owners of the land
• QUT respects their Elders, lores, customs, and creation spirits
• The land is recognised as a place of teaching, research, and learning

Lecture Outline

• Research design (within vs. between subjects design)
• Placebos and nocebos
• Research methods for measuring drug effects on arousal, performance, and behaviour
• Identifying good research designs
• Drug licensing
• Animal studies in drug development

Reflection Questions

• Design a study to investigate caffeine effects on human behaviour
• Identify types of in-class experiments and measurements for caffeine
• Examine the strengths and weaknesses of measuring caffeine's effects
• Consider placebo and nocebo effects from personal experiences
• Explain the mechanisms by which these effects operate
• Compare a 3-group vs. a 4-group balanced placebo design

Research Designs in Psychopharmacology

• Experimental research designs
  • Independent variables (IV): Variables manipulated in a study (e.g., drug dosage, type)
  • Dependent variables (DV): Variables measured in a study to observe the IV's effect (e.g., behaviour/mood)
  • Experimental control: Maintaining consistent conditions across the study

Between-Subject Designs

• Experiments involve 2+ groups
• IV is operationalised as different groups (e.g., group A gets new drug, group B gets existing drug)
• Useful for comparing differences between groups

Within-Subject Designs (Repeated Measures)

• Same participants involved in all levels of the experiment
• IV is operationalised as different levels/testing occasions (e.g., before and after drug administration)
• Useful for observing changes within a participant

Research Design: Advantages & Disadvantages

• Between groups: Easier and more time-efficient, observes variables unaffected by repeated testing, may require increased participants to ensure variability isn't confounding
• Within groups: Requires fewer participants, each participant acts as their own control, may be less suitable measuring constantly shifting variables

Control Groups/Conditions

• Ensures the observed effect is from the manipulated variable
• Identical groups except for manipulation (e.g., experimental group: given drug; control group: given placebo)
• Important in between-subject experimental designs

Placebo controls

• Placebo control conditions are similar to an experimental condition, but receive an inactive substance (placebo)
• Useful for understanding whether observed results are due to the drug's direct effects or simply the expectation of the effect.

Expectancy & Context

• A table illustrated how expectation about a treatment influences the perceived effect.

Experimental Research Design

• Three-group designs: 3 groups may be used:

  1. A group given a new drug
  2. A group given a proven drug
  3. A group given a placebo
  • This design facilitates comparisons between new and established drugs, as well as assessing placebo effects and the sensitivity of measurements

• Alternate combinations of groups: To explore the general effectiveness of drugs or non-pharmacological interventions across distinct types of groups, such as comparing a CBT group to a drug-treated group.

• Specificity of drug effects: Investigating whether a drug's effects are exclusive to certain mental illnesses, which could be examined using groups comprising individuals with different mental health concerns.

Sources of Bias

• Bias: Systematic errors in measurement or prediction
• Experimenter and participant expectations (double-blind studies)
• Selection bias (experimental controls)
• Demographic differences(age/gender)
• Cultural differences
• Personality differences
• Education etc

Research Methods

• A range of research methods, with introspection and naturalistic observations being least precise, and experiments exhibiting the highest control.

Ethical & Legal Constraints on Drug Research

• Strict ethical and legal constraints govern drug studies, especially studies involving potentially harmful or addictive substances like alcohol
• Considerations regarding participant safety and wellbeing after the experiment.
• Costs of research can be a concern

Outcome Measures: What Do We Measure?

• Arousal
• Cognition
• Perception
• Motor function
• Mood

Measuring Performance

• More measures => comprehensive assessment, increased cost and complexity
• Analyzing change/variations in various domains of performance provides insights into the drug's mechanism and its effects.

Measuring Arousal

• Arousal levels fluctuate naturally throughout the day
• Drugs can impact arousal levels.
• Techniques: Electroencephalography (EEG), introspection (structured/unstructured), observer reports

Measuring Mood

• Drugs can significantly affect moods
• Assessment tools include self-reports, doctor's assessments, informant reports, and biological marker tests

Measuring Perception

• Detecting and integrating external stimuli (visual and auditory)
• Perception sensitivity changes under internal/external factors
• Thresholds: Absolute (lowest value detectable) and Difference (change detection)

Measuring Cognitive Performance

• Ability to process, store, retrieve information (e.g., attention, memory)
• Can also involve higher-level processes like planning, set-shifting, and response inhibition
• Testing, manipulation commonly used

Measuring Motor Performance

• Drugs can affect motor tasks (e.g., coordination)
• Measurement techniques: reaction time, tapping, pursuit rotor tasks

Measuring Side Effects/Physiological Effects

• Methods for assessing side-effects (e.g., questionnaires, medical check-ups, biochemical assays).
• Methods for assessing physiological effects (e.g., biochemical assays, MRI scans, PET scans)

Identifying Good Research Design

• Ensure the chosen design aligns with the research question.
• Evaluate the strengths, limitations of the measurement tools for assessing effects.
• Evaluate sensitivity and precision of measurement.
• Assess whether experimental controls have been adequately implemented.
• Assess how meaningful observed changes are in everyday functioning

Identifying Good Research Design (2 &3)

• Special considerations for drug studies: washout effects, deprivation design, dosage, drug inclusion, non-specific drug effects, timeframe, reporting adverse events, and animal behaviour testing
• Consideration of generalizability of in-vitro tests, similarity of species for animal studies

FDA Approval Processes

• Preclinical investigations (testing on cells and animals)
• Clinical testing phases (initial study of volunteers, increasing participant numbers with more complex measures)
• NDA (New Drug Application) review, approval/rejection
• Post-marketing studies (long-term safety)

Phases of Human Testing (Clinical Trials)

• Phase 1: Initial testing on healthy volunteers to establish safe dosage and to measure pharmacokinetics
• Phase 2: Expanded testing in patients to determine effectiveness
• Phase 3: Large-scale trials comparing the drug to existing treatments under controlled conditions
• Phase 4: Surveillance after market release to capture long-term drug effects and potentially identify adverse effects

Post-marketing Studies (Phase 4)

• Occur after NDA approval, for up to 15 years.
• Focus on gathering long-term data on drug effects, rare occurrences, adverse events etc.
• Crucial for identifying potentially harmful impacts

Conclusion

• Familiarity with psychopharmacology's research designs, placebos, and between/within subject designs
• Ability to assess strengths and limitations of these designs
• Understanding outcome variables, measurement and the procedures involved in drug licensing.

This quiz covers key topics from Week 3 of the Psychopharmacology of Addictive Behaviour course. It includes research design, the effects of placebos and nocebos, and various research methods for drug effects. Test your understanding of caffeine's impact on behaviour through study design and critical analysis.