Brady Phelps

Education

Ph.D. 1992, Utah State University

Academic Interests

Behavior Analysis

Academic Responsibilities

Learning and Conditioning, Biological Psychology, Physiological Psychology, Critical Thinking, Behavior Modification

Grants

Research and Scholarship Support Fund, 2017, in collaboration with Dr. Shafiq Rahman, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, SDSU, $2250
Faculty Excellence Fund, 2016, in collaboration with Dr. Shafiq Rahman, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, SDSU, $1500
Research and Scholarship Support Fund, 2015, in collaboration with Dr. Shafiq Rahman, Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, SDSU, $1100
Governor's Award for Teaching with Technology, 2000, $15,000
Governor's Award for Teaching with Technology, 2001, $15,000

Professional Memberships

Association for Behavior Analysis-International, Association for Psychological Science

Creative Activities

Phelps. B. J., Miller, T. M., Arens, H., Hutchinson, T., Lang, K. A., Muckey, L. M., Thompson, N., Stanage, S., Rahman, S. and Rawls. S. M. (2019). Preliminary evidence from planarians that cotinine establishes a conditioned place preference. Neuroscience Letters, 703, 145-148.
Phelps, B. J. (2018). And we are the easiest to fool: A Review of Franz de Waal’s Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? The Psychological Record, December 2018, Volume 68, Issue 4, pp 561–566.
Phelps, B. J. (2016). Brady J. Phelps defines habituation [Streaming video]. Retrieved from SAGE Video. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781473972827
Phelps, B. J. (2015). Book review of Psychology gone astray: A selection of racist and sexist literature from early psychological research by Charles Abramson and Caleb Lack (Eds.). Journal of Mind and Behavior, 36(3-4), 189-194.
Phelps, B. J. (2015). Behavioral perspectives on personality and self. The Psychological Record, 65(3), 557-566.
Phelps, B. J. (2014). Operant rodent manipulanda applied with the goldfish. Innovative Teaching, 3, 1-5.
Phelps, B. J. (2012). How close to real can a non-real cyber rat behave? Behavior and Philosophy, 39/40, 309-313.
Phelps, B.J., Doyle-Lunders, L. Harsin-Waite, A., Hofman, N., and Knutson, L. (2012). Demonstrating habituation of a startle response to loud noise. The Behavior Analyst Today, 13(1), 17-19.
Phelps. B. J. (2011). Anosmia. In the Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development; Springer-Verlag Publishing, New York.
Phelps. B. J. (2011). Avoidance Learning. In the Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development; Springer-Verlag Publishing, New York.
Phelps, B. J. (2011). Dishabituation. In the Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development; Springer-Verlag Publishing, New York.
Phelps, B.J. (2011). Extinction. In the Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development, Springer-Verlag Publishing, New York.
Phelps. B. J. (2011). Habituation. In the Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development; Springer-Verlag Publishing, New York.
Phelps, B. J. (2011). Response Generalization. In the Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development, Springer-Verlag Publishing, New York.
Phelps, B. J. (2008). Testbank to accompany Garrett’s Brain and Behavior, Sage Publishing.
Phelps, B. J. (2007). Why we are still not cognitive psychologists: A review of why I am not a cognitive psychologist: A tribute to B. F. Skinner. Behavior Analyst, 30(2), 217-226.
Weatherly, J., and Phelps, B.J. (2006) The pitfalls of studying gambling behavior in a laboratory situation. In P. Ghezzi, C. Lyons, M. Dixon, and G. Wilson (Eds.) Gambling: Behavior theory, research and application (pp. 105-126). Reno, NV: Context Press.
Hosek, C. A, Phelps, B.J, and Jensen, J. (2004). Sleep patterns among undergraduate college students. Psi Chi, Journal of Undergraduate Research, 9(2), 57-61.
Phelps, B.J., Wogen, E.C., and Pedersen, S.C. (2003). Dead silence: Attending a live John Edward seminar, Skeptic, 10(2), 15-17.
Phelps, B.J. (2002). Personality, personality theory and dissociative identity disorder: What behavior analysis can contribute and clarify. The Behavior Analyst Today, Volume 2, No. 4, 325-335
Phelps, B. J. (2000). Dissociative identity disorder: The relevance of behavior analysis. The Psychological Record, 50, 232-249.
Phelps, B.J. & Cheney, C.D. (1996). Memory rehabilitation techniques with the brain-injured. In W. Ishaq and J. Cautela (Eds.) Contemporary issues in behavior therapy: Improving the human condition, (pp. 123-136). New York: Plenum.
Exum, M.E., Phelps, B.J., Nabers, K.S., & Osborne, J.G. (1993). Sundown syndrome: Is it reflected in the use of PRN medications for nursing home residents? The Gerontologist, 33, 756-761.
Phelps, B.J. & Exum, M.E. (1992). Subliminal tapes: How to get the message across. The Skeptical Inquirer, 16, 282-286.

Area(s) of Research

Basic and applied behavior analysis, behavioral neuroscience

Applications of Research

My research has been focused on assessing the abuse potential of alkaloid compounds found in tobacco and metabolites of nicotine consumption through the use of an animal model. We successfully published a paper in the journal Neuroscience Letters showing that cotinine, the major metabolite of nicotine consumption, may be contributing to nicotine's effects. Our next upcoming projects will focus on assessing the behavioral properties of a novel psychoactive compound known as MEAI in comparison to ethanol, amongst other research directions.
https://www.sdstate.edu/news/2019/04/metabolite-may-play-role-nicotine-addiction

In my laboratory, we use the planaria invertebrate as an animal model. Planarians have been shown to be an animal model with great utility in pharmacology and toxicology research. These organisms have most of the neurotransmitters and neuromodulators of the mammalian brain and their primitive "brain" shares over 80% of the genes responsible for the structure of the human brain.