Dr. Gerald S. Hecht
Associate Professor of Psychology
College of Sciences

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CONTACT INFORMATION:

	LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY 213 AudubonHall Phone: 225.578.9034 Email: ghecht@lsu.edu URL: http://psiwebsubr.org
	SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY 225 Blanks Hall Phone: 225.771.2990 FAX: 225.771.2082 Email: gerald_hecht@subr.edu URL: http://psiwebsubr.org

EDUCATION:

	1986-1989: Research Assistant and undergraduate student in Psychology/Biology Rowan University , Glassboro, NJ Major: Psychology Minor: Biology Degree: B.A. in Psychology May 1989 Honors Thesis: The role of copper and vitamin B-6 in taste sensitivity in the rat: A signal detection analysis. Research Advisor: Dr. Gary M. Brosvic
	1989-1990: Graduate student in Experimental Psychology West Chester University, West Chester, PA. Major: Experimental Psychology Degree: M.A. in Experimental Psychology May 1990 Masters Thesis: Influences of amiloride hydrochloride on taste detection performance: a signal detection analysis. Research Advisor: Dr. Louis Porter
	1991-1997: Doctoral student in Psychobiology Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY. Degree: Ph.D. in Behavioral Neuropharmacology May 1997 Doctoral Dissertation: Effects of reproductive cycle and prenatal cocaine exposure on progressive ratio responding for intravenous cocaine. Research Advisor: Dr. Linda P. Spear
	1997-1999:  Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi School of Medicine, Jackson, MS. Research Area: Receptor Binding and Behavioral profiles of Dopaminergic agents in Rhesus Monkeys

PUBLICATIONS:

• Brosvic, G.M. and Hecht, G.S. (1989). The role of copper and vitamin B-6 in taste sensitivity in the rat: A signal detection analysis. Physiology and Behavior, 45, 1139-1145.

• Hecht, G.S. (1990). Influences of amiloride hydrochloride on taste detection performance: a signal detection analysis. Masters Thesis, West Chester University, Dr. Louis Porter Committee Chair.

• Brosvic, G.M., Hecht, G.S. and La Haye, S. (1992). Quality-specific differences in rat taste detection performance as a function of stimulus volume. Physiology and Behavior, 50, 711-718.

• Hecht, G.S., Brosvic, G.M. and Porter, L.H. (1993). Influences of amiloride hydrochloride on the taste detection performance of rats. Physiology and Behavior.

• DiLorenzo, P.M. and Hecht, G.S. (1993). Perceptual consequences of electrical stimulation in the gustatory system. Behavioral Neuroscience, 107(1), 130-138.

• Porter, L.H., Hecht, G.S. and Sheaffer, R. (1993). Disturbances in the performance of thermal discrimination tasks following cortical ablations in rats. Brain Research, 621, 319-330.

• Nadel, L. et al. Hippocampus. (1995). In E. Alleva et al. (eds.), Behavioural Brain Research in Naturalistic and Semi-Naturalistic settings, pp 353-355. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Netherlands. 
• Hecht, G.S., Riccio, L., Spear, L.P. and Spear, N.E. (1996). Intravenous self-administration of cocaine in pregnant and lactating rats.Developmental Psychobiology, 29(3):36.

• Hecht, G.S., Spear, N.E, and Spear, L.P. (1998). Alterations in the reinforcing efficacy of cocaine in adult rats following prenatal exposure to cocaine. Behavioral Neuroscience, 112(2) 1-9.

•  Hecht, G.S., Spear, N.E., and Spear, L.P. (1999).Changes in progressive ratio responding for intravenous cocaine throughout the reproductive process in female rats. Dev Psychobiol, Sep;35(2):136-45.

• Woolverton, W.L., Hecht, G.S., Katz, J.L., Newman, A.H. (2001). Further studies of the reinforcing effects of benztropine analogs in rhesus monkeys. Psychopharmacology,  (Berl). 2001 Apr;154(4):375-82.

MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION:

• Hecht, G.S. (in preparation). Current pharmacological trends in treating individuals with intellectual disabilities. Invitation by editor to submit paper to Research on Developmental Disabilities.

• Hecht, G.S., Copeland, A.L., Kendzor, D.E. (in preparation). Prediction of smoking topography patterns among women smokers: A pilot study.

• Copeland, A.L., Hecht, G.S., & Perantie, D. Cigarette smoking, smoking expectancies and suicidal ideation among college student smokers.

• Copeland, A.L., Hecht, G.S., & Laurent, N.L. Validity of the Profile of Mood States (POMS) for assessing mood-related nicotine withdrawal symptoms in college female smokers.

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PRESENTATIONS:

• 2006: Copeland, A.L., Hecht, G.S., & Perantie, D.C. (August 2006). The relationship between cigarette smoking, depression, and suicidal ideation among college students. Paper submitted for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 2006: Hecht, G.S., Copeland, A.L., Kendzor, D.E., & Finley, A. (June, 2006). Monthly patterns of smoking topography and smoking rate among college women smokers:A pilot study. Paper submitted for presentation at the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence & Scottsdale, Arizona.

• 2006: Copeland, A.L., Hecht, G.S., & Laurent, N.L. (June 2006). Smoking outcome expectancies predict nicotine withdrawal symptoms in mildly and moderately depressed college women smokers Paper submitted for presentation at the annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence. Scottsdale, Arizona.
• 2000: Harrison, M. Hecht, G., & Carreiro, P. Predictors of substance use in African American youths. Paper presented at Southeastern Psychological Association 46th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2000.
• 1998: Hecht, G.S. Intravenous cocaine self-administration in rats as a model of maternal drug abuse and prenatal drug exposure. ISGIDAR annual meeting, satellite conference at the sixtieth annual meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence, Scottsdale, Arizona.
• 1996a: Snyder, K.J., Hecht, G.S., and Spear, L.P. The effects of maternal separation on basal heart rates and habituation in preweanling rat pups. Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, Washington, D.C.
• 1996b: Di Lorenzo, P.M., Hecht, G.S. Temporal coding of sensory stimuli: mimicking gustatory stimuli with electrical stimulation of the brain. Dynamical Neuroscience Satellite Symposium Washington, D.C.
• 1995a: Hecht, G.S., Spear, L.P., and Spear, N.E. Effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on reward sensitivity in the rat. Society for Neuroscience 25th annual meeting, San Diego, California.
• 1995b: Hecht, G.S., Riccio, L., Spear, L.P. And Spear, N.E. Intravenous self-administration of cocaine in pregnant and lactating rats. International Society for Developmental Psychobiology. San Diego, California.
• 1994: Hecht, G.S., Athalie, F., Spear, N.E., and Spear, L.P. Effects of prenatal cocaine exposure and maternal deprivation on heartrate and nonassociative learning in infant rats. Society for Neuroscience, Miami Beach Florida.
• 1993: Hecht, G.S., Di Lorenzo, P.M. Generalization of a conditioned aversion to electrical stimulation in the nucleus of the solitary tract in the rat. AChems, Sarasota, Florida.
• 1993: Hecht, G.S., Di Lorenzo, P.M. And Monroe, S. Time course of discrimination of taste stimuli in the parabrachial pons of the rat. Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C.
• 1992a: Di Lorenzo, P.M. And Hecht, G.S. Conditioned aversion to lick-paired stimulation of the nucleus of the solitary tract in the rat. AChems, Sarasota, Florida.
• 1992b: Di Lorenzo, P.M., Hecht, G.S. And Monroe, S. Taste responses to perithreshold stimuli in the parabrachial pons of the rat. Society for Neuroscience, New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1989: Hecht, G.S. And Brosvic, G.M. Procedure Specific effects of amiloride hydrochloride on taste detection performance. Psychonomic Society, Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1987: Hecht, G.S. And Brosvic, G.M. Effects of copper deprivation on taste sensitivity. Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, Massachusetts.

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SPECIALTIES BY TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:

Laboratory Techniques:

Computer and Information Technology Skills:

TEACHING:

• 14 years of teaching experience at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

• Present: Assistant Professor of Psychology, Southern University and A&M College. Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology, Louisiana State University.

• Courses Currently teaching: PSYC-210 General Psychology, PSYC 377 Physiological Psychology, PSYC 488 History & Systems in Psychology, and PSYC 492 seminar- Information Technology in the teaching of Psychology and Psychological research, PSYC 330- Substance Abuse and Human Behavior, PSYC 381 – Sensation and Perception,  and PSYC 277 -Advanced Statistics

• 1998-Present: Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology, Louisiana State University: PSYC-2000 General Psychology, PSYC 4008 History of Psychology, PSYC 4035- Drugs and Behavior, PSYC 4038 Learning Theories in Psychology.

• 1997-1998: Post-Doctoral Fellow and Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Mississippi School of Medicine: CNS Pharmacology, Behavioral Neuropharmacology, learning theory.

• 1991-1997: Doctoral Student and Adjunct Instructor, State University of New York, Binghamton: 10 semesters plus two summer courses total. Learning Laboratory (basic animal and human learning research). A weekly section of approximately 20 undergraduate enrolled in a core course on learning theory. Instructed methods of shaping behavior in rats, progressing to more advanced controlled learning experiments in both rats and humans; experimental design and statistical analyses of data from these experiments and writing publication quality research papers in APA format. Drugs and Behavior (methods and current research findings in behavioral neuropharmacology). A bi-weekly course of approximately 200 undergraduates with diverse majors. An examination of various phenomena associated with psychoactive drugs integrating basic principles of Pharmacology, Neurophysiology, and Psychology. I supplement the required readings with relevant data from my own experimental studies in drug self-administration, conditioned place/odor preference and exposure to drugs of abuse in utero.

• 1989-1991: Adjunct Instructor, West Chester University: 4 semesters plus one summer course total. History and Systems in Psychology. An undergraduate core course for Psychology majors. A critical survey of the philosophical antecedents and schools of Psychology as well as contributions from other fields ranging from Clinical Neurology/Neurosurgery to Sociology and Cultural Anthropology.

ACADEMIC AWARDS:

• Psi Chi (American Psychological Association Honor Society) Vice President, 1989.

• Clyde Davis Award for outstanding undergraduate research project, 1989.

• Graduated West Chester University (M.A. In Experimental Psychology) with 4.0 GPA, 1990.

• Graduate Student Organization Senator (Psychology Department Representative); Binghamton University, 1992.

• Selected as one of 8 American Scientists for participation in 1994 NATO-ASI meeting; Behavioral Brain Research in Naturalistic and Seminaturalistic Settings: Possibilities and Perspectives, Acquafredda di Maratea, Italy. NSF travel award for same (ASI Travel Award Program Grant [National Science Foundation], 1994, ASI #930511, $1000).

• Binghamton University Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award Recipient, 1997. Outstanding dissertation in Science and Mathematics.

• International Society for Developmental Psychobiology nominee for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award, 1997.

• New York Academy of Sciences James McKeen Cattell Award for best doctoral dissertation in Psychology/Neuroscience, 1998.

• College on Problems of Drug Dependence Travel Award Winner, 1998.