Jerome Frieman, Ph.D.

Jerome Frieman (PhD Kent State University, 1969) Pavlovian conditioning, operant conditioning, and social learning in hamsters and rats. Recent research has focused on social learning in dwarf hamsters (Phodopus campbelli) and golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), operant conditioning in dwarf hamsters, kin recognition in dwarf hamsters, and Pavlovian conditioning in rats.

 

Research Interests

 

We maintain a colony of dwarf hamsters (Phodopus campbelli). Unlike the more common golden (Syrian) hamster (Mesocricetus auratus), Phodopus campbelli are social. Recent research has focused on comparing dwarf hamsters and golden hamsters on social learning of food preferences and Pavlovian conditioned responses to a conspecific, and operant conditioning, kin recognition, and social learning in dwarf hamsters. A second line of research has focused on effects of using a conspecific as a feature or a conditioned stimulus in feature positive discriminations.

 

Recent Publications/Presentations:

 

Kubina, L, & Frieman, J. (October, 2007). Feature-positive Conditioning with a Biologically Significant Stimulus. Paper presented at the meeting of the Pavlovian Society, Austin, TX.

 

Wertz, K. & Frieman, J. (November 2005). Operant Conditioning and Hoarding in Dwarf Hamsters (Phodopus campbelli). Paper presented at the meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Toronto.

 

Tarner, N., Frieman, J., & Mehiel, R. (2004). Extinction and spontaneous recovery of a conditioned flavor preference. Learning and Motivation, 35, 83-101.

 

Lupfer, G., Frieman, J., and Coonfield, D. (2003). Social Transmission of Flavor Preferences in Two Species of Hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus and Phodopus campbelli). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 117, 449–455.

 

Tarner, N. L., Frieman, J., & Mehiel, R. (2002, March). Evidence for spontaneous recovery of a conditioned flavor preference. Paper presented at the meeting of the Comparative Cognition Society, Melbourne, FL.

 

Lupfer, G., Egleston, D., & Frieman, J. (2001, November). Which attributes of conditioned stimuli elicit behavior systems in rats? Paper presented at the meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Orlando.

 

Student Involvement

 

Current Graduate Students

 

Jessica Godin, BA University of Southern Maine, completed her Master’s degree on kin recognition by odor source in dwarf hamsters. She is working on her dissertation proposal.

 

Lindsay Kubina, BS Kansas State University, completed her Master’s thesis on feature positive discriminations with biologically significant stimuli in rats. She is working on her dissertation proposal.

 

Krista Wertz, BA Gettysburg College, completed her Master’s thesis on operant conditioning and hoarding in dwarf hamsters. She is working on her disseration proposal.

 

Undergraduates

 

Students who are interested in gaining experience in research are invited to participate. The student usually selects a project based on mutual interests, and he or she participates in all aspects of the experiment from design through data analysis. Students are required to write a research report on their work in order to receive a grade.