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Josh Blustein
Associate Professor, Psychology
Boyer Hall 129 (215) 572-4002 Tuesday and Thursday, 9:00-11:00
About Me
Josh Blustein has been a faculty member in the Psychology Department at Arcadia University for the past 28 years. His research, directed at developing an animal model for why humans engage in repeated trauma, has been published in leading journals in the area of Behavioral Neuroscience. Over the past 28 years, 76 students have either co-authored a research article or published a research abstract under his mentorship. In 1992 he received the coveted Lindback Award for Teaching Excellence and in 2016, the Provost's award for advising and mentoring. His research has been presented several times at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Davidson College, Layfayette College and Getysburg College
Courses Taught at Arcadia
Learning and Cognition (PY221)
Behavioral Neuroscience (PY222)
Elementary Statistics (MA141)
Clinical Psychopharmacology (PY574) for graduate students in Counseling Psychology
Areas Of Focus
Behavioral Neuroscience, Pain Inhibition, Adaptation and Contextual Control of Endogenous Opiates.
Hometown
North Wales, PA
Home Country
USA
Education History
Temple University
PhD in Experimental Psychology: Specialization in Learning and Behavioral Neuroscience
Stockton College
BA in Psychology with Honors
Publications
Elimination of shock escape deficits following exposure to inescapable shock by the central administration of quaternary naltrexone
Contexual control of tolerance to cold-water swim induced opioid analgesia
Evidence that Adaptation to Cold-Water Swim Induced Analgesia is a learned response.
Exercise Effects Stress Induced Analgesia and Spatial Learning in Rats.
Research Summary
The focus of my research is on the role of the environment in adaptation to stress-induced analgesia. We have evidence that adaptation to stress-induced analgesia is regulated in part by the environment through Pavlovian Conditioning. The analgesia activated by the procedures we use has been shown to be opioid mediated. We have assumed that stressors activate endogenous opiates that demonstrate tolerance following repeated re-activation by stress. Recent evidence from our laboratory supports this assumption by showing the contextual control of cross-tolerance between stress-induced analgesia and morphine. More recently we have been examining the role of the environment in regulating supersentitivity to morphine induced by repeated injections of opiate antagonists.