A partnership with the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program.
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"From Pavlov to Placebos: The Role of Conditioning, Expectancies, and Psychology within the Effects of Substances"Presented by: Date: January 26, 2026, 4:00-5:00 p.m. Location: Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health Building To be added to the monthly calendar event, email Zezong Gu. |
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*Zoom option available
Description
In this presentation, we will discuss the role of the balanced-placebo design research in understanding the role of expectancies on alcohol's effects, including considering Alan Marlatt's Behavioral Alcohol Research Laboratory (or BARLAB) in his work with college students. We will also discuss placebo research that has been done with cannabis. We will review the role of classical conditioning in the development (and even disappearance) of tolerance. Looking ahead, we will consider what these research findings mean for prevention and intervention.
Speaker
Dr. Jason Kilmer holds a B.S. in Psychology and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Washington (1997). His professional career spans more than 20 years of experience conducting research on substance abuse etiology and prevention among college students, high school students, and other young adults. The primary focus of his research has been the development, implementation, and evaluation of brief interventions and prevention efforts designed to reduce alcohol- and other drug-related harms. For numerous NIAAA- and NIDA-funded projects, he has played a significant role in developing interventions that utilize personalized graphic feedback, delivered both in-person and on the web. Dr. Kilmer maintains a strong interest in bridging the gap between science and practice, including finding ways to scale empirically-supported approaches, and is committed to teaching, training, and presenting to spotlight science in this field.
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