Psychology Assignment 2: Article Analysis and APA Formatting

This psychology assignment delves into the distinctions between peer-reviewed journal articles and information presented in textbooks. The student's analysis highlights the enhanced comprehensiveness, experimental setups, and primary evidence found in scholarly articles, contrasting them with the often less detailed and evidence-backed content of textbooks. The assignment emphasizes the critical role of peer review in validating research findings and ensuring the reliability of information, particularly in comparison to the less rigorous vetting processes of online sources. The student also discusses the significance of APA formatting in research papers, emphasizing its role in clarity, structure, and credibility through proper citation. The assignment concludes by reflecting on how these insights will inform the selection of research resources and ensure the validity and reliability of data used in future research endeavors. The assignment includes abstracts of three articles on nicotine addiction and Pavlovian conditioning.

Running head: PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology Assignment 2
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

PSYCHOLOGY
Summary
The level of detail provided in the peer-reviewed journal articles are more
comprehensive and are backed up by evidences, which can also be found in textbooks.
However, the key differences observed was the provision of experimental setup and the
research findings on which the papers were based on, disseminating clinical data with
primary evidences and greater insight. This characteristic is lacking with the information
provided in the textbooks. The researcher’s scholarly works are subjected to scrutiny of other
experts in the same field, which helps in checking the validity of the research findings and
marking its suitability for publishing and dissemination (Smith, 2017). However, with
internet sources, such peer-review is missing and the data available is not backed up by
experimental evidences, thus having poor reliability and validity (Flanagin & Metzger, 2018).
The topics of psychology have a broad viewpoint for every sub-theme and choosing
subjective data available in online sources can significantly mean agreeing to someone’s
personal opinion, without verifying the authenticity of the data. The key objective of peer
review is to filter the highest quality articles and disseminate and publish them. When a
scholarly work is subjected to experts from the same field, it is quite ensured that the authors
will be encouraged to provide high quality research in the first go (Ferragut et al., 2019).
There is a clear significance of using APA formatting in research studies, as it offers clarity
to the research paper and aids in structuring of the complex topics. Such formatting keeps the
focus of the content of the research paper and ensures better flow of it. Citing references aids
in adding credibility to the paper, pay genuine tribute to the original publishers and helps in
protecting the content from being marked as plagiarized, which is a crime.
This information will help me in selecting peer-reviewed articles to gather resources
for my research topic and ensure high validity and reliability of the data I am using.

PSYCHOLOGY
References
Ferragut, J. F., Pinto, N., Amorim, A., & Picornell, A. (2019). Improving publication quality
and the importance of Post Publication Peer Review: The illustrating example of X
chromosome analysis and calculation of forensic parameters. Forensic Science
International: Genetics, 38, e5-e7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsigen.2018.11.006
Flanagin, A. J., & Metzger, M. J. (2018). Perceptions of Internet information
credibility. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 89(sup1), Ai-A. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1080/02701367.2018.1453732
Smith, J. A. (2017). The Importance of Peer Review. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2017.03.115

PSYCHOLOGY
Article 1
Murray, J. E., & Bevins, R. A. (2009). Acquired appetitive responding to intravenous
nicotine reflects a Pavlovian conditioned association. Behavioral
neuroscience, 123(1), 97. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013735
Abstract
Recent research examining Pavlovian appetitive conditioning has extended the
associative properties of nicotine from the unconditioned stimulus or reward to include
the role of a conditional stimulus (CS), capable of acquiring the ability to evoke a conditioned
response. To date, published research has used presession extravascular injections to examine
nicotine as a contextual CS in that appetitive Pavlovian drug discrimination task. Two studies
in the current research examined whether a nicotine CS can function discretely, multiple
times within a session using passive iv infusions. In Experiment 1, rats readily acquired a
discrimination in conditioned responding between nicotine and saline infusions when nicotine
was selectively paired with sucrose presentations. In Experiment 2, rats were either trained
with nicotine paired with sucrose or explicitly unpaired with sucrose. The results showed that
rats trained with explicitly unpaired nicotine and sucrose did not increase dipper entries after
the infusions. Nicotine was required to be reliably paired with sucrose for control of
conditioned responding to develop. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to
tobacco addiction, learning theory, and pharmacology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016
APA, all rights reserved)

PSYCHOLOGY
Article 2
Siegel, S., & Ramos, B. (2002). Applying laboratory research: Drug anticipation and the
treatment of drug addiction. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 10(3),
162. https://doi.org/10.1037/1064-1297.10.3.162
Abstract
Basic research concerning drug tolerance and withdrawal may inform clinical
practice, and vice versa. Three areas that integrate the work of the laboratory and the clinic
are discussed: (a) drug overdose, (b) cue exposure treatment of addiction, and (c)
pharmacological treatment of withdrawal symptoms. The areas are related in that they
indicate the contribution of drug-paired cues to the effects of addictive drugs and the role of
Pavlovian conditioning of drug effects in drug tolerance and withdrawal symptoms.
(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

PSYCHOLOGY
Article 3
Pittenger, S. T., & Bevins, R. A. (2013). Interoceptive conditioning with a nicotine stimulus
is susceptible to reinforcer devaluation. Behavioral neuroscience, 127(3), 465.
https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032691
Abstract
Pavlovian conditioning processes contribute to the etiology of nicotine
dependence. Conditioning involving interoceptive stimuli is increasingly recognized as
playing a role in many diseases and psychopathologies, including drug addiction. Previous
animal research on diminishing the influence of interoceptive conditioning has been limited
to antagonism and nonreinforced exposures to the drug stimulus. The goal of the present
research was to determine whether interoceptive conditioning with a nicotine stimulus could
be diminished through an unconditioned stimulus (US) devaluation procedure. In two
separate experiments, male Sprague–Dawley rats received nicotine injections (0.4 mg
base/kg) followed by intermittent sucrose (26%) access in a conditioning chamber. On
intermixed saline sessions, sucrose was withheld. Conditioning was demonstrated by a
reliable increase in head entries in the dipper receptacle on nicotine versus saline sessions.
After conditioning, rats in a devaluation condition were given access to sucrose in their home
cages immediately followed by a lithium chloride (LiCl) injection on 3 consecutive days. On
subsequent test days, nicotine-evoked conditioned responding was significantly attenuated.
Within-subject (Experiment 1) and between-subjects (Experiment 2) controls revealed that
the diminished responding was not attributable to mere exposure to the sucrose US in the
devaluation phase. Experiment 2 included a LiCl-alone control group. Repeated illness
induced by LiCl did not reduce later nicotine-evoked responding. These findings suggest that
there is a direct association between the interoceptive stimulus effects of nicotine and the

PSYCHOLOGY
appetitive sucrose US (i.e., stimulus–stimulus) rather than a stimulus–response association.
(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)