College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Psychological Science

Alexandra Potter (Behavior Therapy and Psychotherapy)

Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry

Research and/or Creative Works

My research broadly investigates the neurobiology of cognitive dysfunctions associated with neurodevelopmental/neurobehavioral disabilities. I have been specifically interested in the role of cholinergic systems in the cognitive deficits associated with ADHD. I am currently conducting acute drug challenge studies to manipulate cholinergic system function to examine nicotinic cholinergic contributions to behavioral inhibition (impulsivity), attention, reward processing and working memory in young adults with ADHD. These studies are conducted in both in laboratory and fMRI environments. Current projects include:

a study examining the functional neuroanatomy of acute nicotinic modulation of impulsivity in women cigarette smokers.
a project testing the effect of acute nicotine and nicotinic blockade on impulsivity (and related patterns of brain activation) in young adults with ADHD.
a study examining developmental shifts in patterns of brain activity associated with behavioral inhibition and working memory in children, adolescents, and adults who do or do not have ADHD.
a project examining cognitive deficits in older adults with ADHD and healthy controls.

Laboratory

Research in the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit (CNRU) examines the neurobiology of cognitive dysfunctions associated with neurodevelopmental/neurobehavioral disabilities.

Publications

Potter, AS., Ryan, K., Newhouse, PA (in press). Effects of Acute Ultra-Low Dose Mecamylamine on Cognition in Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental.
Potter, AS, Bucci, D, Newhouse, PA (2012). Manipulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors differentially affects behavioral inhibition in human subjects with and without disordered inhibition. Psychopharmacology, 222: 331-340. PMCID:PMC3288699 [Available on 2013/3/1]
Newhouse, PA, Potter, AS, Dumas, JA, & Thiel, CM (2011). Functional brain imaging of nicotinic effects on higher cognitive processes. Biochemical Pharmacology, 82, 943-951. PMCID: PMC3162085 [Available on 2012/10/15]
Potter, AS., Ryan, K., Newhouse, PA (2009) Effects of Acute Ultra-Low Dose Mecamylamine on Cognition in Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental, 24:309-317. PMCID: PMC2776071
Potter, A and Newhouse P. (2008) Acute Nicotine Improves Cognitive Deficits in Young Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 88(4) 407-417.
Potter, AS., Newhouse, PA., Bucci, DJ. (2006). Central nicotinic cholinergic, A. systems: A role in the cognitive dysfunction in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder? Behavioural Brain Research, 175, 201-211.