Yorktown Native Researches New Treatments for Tobacco Dependence

Yorktown Heights native Michael Fay, a senior psychology major at Saint Michael's College, presented his research at a psychology conference last weekend in New York.

The John F. Kennedy Catholic High School graduate's research is designed to help uncover new treatments for tobacco-dependence. His scientific presentation is titled "Nicotine-Induced amotivation: A result of conditioned inhibition?"

"Many students have been introduced to their future graduate-school mentors at these conferences," Saint Michael's College psychology professor Dr. Ari Kirshenbaum said.

Kirshenbaum, and four of his students including Fay, presented their research at the Eastern Psychological Association annual meetings March 1-4 at the Marquis Marriott in New York City.

Kirshenbaum said their lab has discovered that after "only very limited experience with nicotine, rats become unmotivated by food rewards that normally serve as powerful incentives. During tobacco withdrawal, the emotional symptoms such as depression and anxiety are powerful precipitators of tobacco-use relapse in human smokers, and we believe that our rat model is analogous to these emotional symptoms of withdrawal."

He said their laboratory research is focused on the neurobiological and psychological mechanisms that contribute to nicotine-induced motivational impairments in an attempt to uncover new opportunities for tobacco-dependence treatment.

"Going to a conference exposes our psychology students to the great diversity of behavioral research in the social sciences," Kirshenbaum said. "They can see the importance of their research in the wider world of scientific understanding, and they develop ease and competence with the subject matter that helps them present their research to others outside of the college."

The other three students, besides Fay, are Samantha Giglio, Mallory Hyland and Tessa Roy. 

"Many students have been introduced to their future graduate-school mentors at these conferences," Professor Kirshenbaum said.