Dr. Antonio Cepeda-Benito

Professor
Dean of Faculties
Ph.D., Purdue University (1994)

Department of Psychology
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4235

Office: 277 Psychology Building
email: acb@tamu.edu
Phone: (979) 845-8038
Fax: (979) 845-4727
Web: http://dof.t.../staff.php

• Environmental influences in drug-related phenomena:
  Neurobiological basis of associative and nonassociative drug tolerance
  Influence of associative tolerance in animal self-administration



• Drug and food cravings:
  Development and validation of drug- and eating disorder-related assessment instruments
  Physiological and biological basis of drug and food cravings



• Smoking cessation treatment outcomes:
  Nicotine Replacement Therapy
  Gender/sex differences in smoking behavior



• Crosscultural (etic and emic) aspects of human behavior:
  Drug addiction and eating disorders
  Development and validation of assessment instruments

Current theories of drug addiction place learning processes at the core of the development and maintenance of substance abuse. In general, investigators theorize that the distinctive internal (physiological) and external (environmental) stimuli that are reliably present during drug consumption become associated with the effects of drugs. Some theorists affirm that, through Pavlovian and operant conditioning processes, these stimuli can evoke a wide variety of psychological and physiological responses (cravings) that motivate the addict to seek and use drugs.

One of my long-term goals is to contribute to the understanding of the neurobiological basis of associative and pharmacological (nonassociative) tolerance. Another long-term goal is to examine whether associative and nonassociative forms of drug tolerance differentially influence the development of substance dependence, and to what extent these putative effects could be modulated by biological individual differences. However, before the above goals can be investigated, it is imperative to understand how to produce robust associative tolerance phenomena and how to distinguish between associative and nonassociative tolerance. Most of my research has been dedicated to answer the two latter questions.Very recently, we have completed a series of investigations that tested the generalizability of associative tolerance phenomena to nicotine tolerance.

The above research is complemented with psychophysiological investigations where human participants are exposed to drug and food related cues and their cue reactivity is indexed as both physiological (e.g., heart rate) and psychological variables (e. g., craving report). These studies are conducted both in the US and in collaboration with Spanish researchers from the Universidad de Granada: Dr. Jaime Vila, Dr. Mari Carmen Fernandez, Dr. Silvia Moreno, Dr. Sonia Rodriguez, and Miguel Angel Mu�oz.

My research focuses on cross-cultural investigations because human behavior and their controlling variables can have common (etic or universal), different (emic, or culture-specific), or have both etic and emic aspects across cultures. Therefore, cross-cultural research allows investigators to make inferences about the truth of human behavior and act accordingly. When constructs do not replicate across two cultures two possibilities exist: 1) the construct is ill defined and really does not exist in any of the two cultures, or 2) the construct exists but it is specific to only one of the two cultures. On the other hand, construct replication across different cultures suggests the construct has etic validity, at least across the cultures tested. Thus conducting cross-cultural research on drug- and eating-related phenomena can be useful in the process of discerning the essential (etic) from the molded (emic) aspects of drug and food craving.

In collaboration with researchers from Granada (see above), the University of Alicante, Spain (Dr. Abilio Reig-Ferrer), and the Instituto Nacional de Pychiatr�a, Mexico City, Mexico (Dr. Maria Elena Medina-Mora, Dr Elia Jazm�n Mora) my team continues to develop and validate assessment instruments that measure food and drug cravings, as well as other drug use and eating-disorder constructs. Additionally, Dr. Reig-Ferrer is currently leading an effort to validate and standardize the Marital Satisfaction Inventory-Revised, in collaboration with Dr. Doug Snyder (the creator of the MSI-R) and myself.

Finally, as Chair of the International Research Collaboration Subcommittee of the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse (funded by NIDA), I am committed to the promotion of international collaborations between US Hispanic and international scientists working in Iberoamerican countries.

1. Davies, K., Cepeda-Benito, A., Harraid, J., Wellman, P. J. (2005). Corticosterone in the rat in response to nicotine and saline injections in a context previously paired or unpaired with nicotine. Psychopharmacology, Online first.
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2. Rodríguez, S., Fernández, M. C., Cepeda-Benito, A. & Vila. (2005). Subjective and physiological reactivity to chocolate images: Comparing high and low chocolate cravers. Biological Psychology, Online first.
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3. Warren, C. S., Gleaves, D. H., Cepeda-Benito, Fernandez, M. C., & Rodriguez-Ruiz, S. (2005). Ethnicity as a protective factor against internalization of a thin-ideal and body dissatisfaction. International Journal of Eating Disorders, in press.



4. Cepeda-Benito, A., & Reig-Ferrer, A. (2005). Development of a brief Questionnaire of Smoking Urges-Spanish. Psychological Assessment, 16, 402-407.



5. Cepeda-Benito, A., Reynoso, J., Davies, K., & Harraid, J. (2004). Examination of Number of Trials in the Development of Associative and Behavioral Tolerance to the Analgesic Effects of Nicotine: Tail-Flick and Paw-Lick Assays. Psychopharmacology, Online first.
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6. Cepeda-Benito, A., Reynoso, J. T., Erath, S. (2004). Meta-Analysis of the efficacy of nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation: Differences between men and women. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74, 712-722.



7. Cepeda-Benito, A., Henry, K., Gleaves, D. H., Fernandez, M. C. (2004). Cross-cultural investigation of the questionnaire of smoking urges in American and Spanish smokers. Assessment, 11, 152-159.



8. Reig-Ferrer, A., Cepeda-Benito, A., Snyder, D. K. (2004). Utility of the Spanish Translation of the Marital Satisfaction Inventory – Revised in Spain. Assessment, 11, 17-26.



9. Cepeda-Benito, A., & Reig-Ferrer, A. (2000). Smoking Consequences Questionnaire-Spanish. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 14, 219-30.



10. Cepeda-Benito, A., Gleaves, D. H., Fernandez, M. C., Vila, J., & Reynoso, J. (2000). The development and validation of Spanish versions of the state and trait food cravings questionnaires. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 1125-138.



11. Cepeda-Benito, A., Reynoso, J., & Erath, S. T. (2000). Dose response analyses of associative tolerance to nicotine analgesia in the rat: Tail-flick and hot-plate tests. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. 8, 112-116.



12. Cepeda-Benito, A., Tiffany, S. T., Cox, L. S. (1999). Context-specific morphine tolerance on the paw-pressure and tail-shock vocalization tests: evidence of associative tolerance without conditioned compensatory responding. Psychopharmacology, 145, 426-432.
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13. Cepeda-Benito, A. & Short, P. (1998). Self-concealment, avoidance of psychological services, and perceived likelihood of seeking professional help. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 45, 1-7.



14. Cepeda-Benito, A., & Tiffany, S. T. (1996). The use of a dual-task procedure for the assessment of cognitive effort associated with smoking urges. Psychopharmacology, 127, 155-163.

Undergraduate
PSYC 305: Psychology of Adjustment

Graduate
PSYC 608 - Introduction to Clinical Skills
PSYC 633

Link to Vita