SABA Experimental Fellowship Recipients
2007: Yukiko Washio, University of Nevada, Reno
Yukiko Washio started studying behavior analysis as an undergraduate at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, where she worked with Dr. Takayuki Sakagami in basic human operant research. Immediately after graduation, Yukiko gained an opportunity to study at Western Michigan University (WMU) under the supervision of Dr. Richard Malott for her Master’s degree in applied behavior analysis. She belonged to the Behavior Analysis Training System (BATS) where she learned how to apply behavior analytic principles to manage her academic and personal life. This self-observational skill turned out to be the most valuable thing that she learned in graduate education as the key for successful scientific activities. During the latter part of her academic life at WMU, Yukiko worked with Dr. Richard Spates on PTSD and public anxiety. She also worked with Dr. Scott Gaynor on conjunction fallacy as basic human operant research, and co-authored a relevant study, which is currently in press in The Psychological Record.
After obtaining her Master’s degree, Yukiko moved to the University of Nevada, Reno for her doctoral education. She has had so many invaluable learning experiences through their program, mainly working with Dr. Ramona Houmanfar as well as Dr. Linda Hayes. She was initially interested in the field of second language acquisition, and her study with Dr. Houmanfar is currently in press in The Analysis of Verbal Behavior.
Yukiko has finally found her lifetime career interest in psychoneuroimmunology, and, recognizing how much behavior analysis can offer this field, she is engaged in further graduate education. In particular, her current work includes immunoconditioning, in which various immune responses are the subject matter for environmental conditioning. Her experiment with Dr. Linda Hayes and Dr. Kenneth Hunter has confirmed, using mice, a previous finding that a proinflammatory cytokine called Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-a showed a conditioned effect to the taste of saccharin associated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) via Pavlovian conditioning. Furthermore, the results showed that introduction of saccharin on a different day over the course of conditioning induced a different response phase in the development of TNF-a tolerance response at testing of the conditioned stimulus. This experiment obviously has an enormous applied implication relevant to those who are at high risk of gram-negative bacterial infections. Currently, Yukiko is designing and conducting a series of experiments based on the preliminary immunoconditioning model for endotoxin tolerance with mice. These pertain to investigating interrelations between biological phenomena and relations of behavior and the environment.
Yukiko has been expanding her network through participating in relevant conferences and visiting distinguished scholars. She is considering pursuing future post-doctoral positions to establish her research career in the field of psychoneuroimmunology as a Ph.D. thoroughly educated in behavior analysis.
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