Michael Amlung

Michael Amlung
  • Associate Professor
  • Associate Scientist
  • Associate Director for Training, Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment
  • Director of Graduate Studies

Contact Info

785-864-0334
Dole Human Development Center, 4011

Biography —

Dr. Michael Amlung is an Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science and Associate Director for Training and Associate Scientist in the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment. He directs the Behavioral Economics and Addiction Neuroscience Laboratory, which conducts research on causes, consequences, and treatment of addictive disorders. His research examines factors that contribute to pathological decision-making in individuals with substance use disorders, the behavioral and brain basis of motivation to use alcohol and other drugs, and the effects of environmental contexts and physiological states on addictive behaviors. His research is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the Canadian Institutes for Heath Research, and the University of Kansas Center for Research.

Dr. Amlung received a M.S. and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Georgia and completed a NIAAA-funded postdoctoral fellowship in addictions research at the University of Missouri. He was previously an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, where he remains a faculty affiliate of the Peter Boris Centre for Addictions Research. In Summer 2020, Dr. Amlung joined the faculty at KU and moved his laboratory to the Lawrence campus.

Dr. Amlung has served as an Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Addiction, Special Issue Editor and Editorial Board Member for Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB). He previously served for two years as Program Chair for the Collaborative Perspectives on Addiction conference sponsored by the Society of Addiction Psychology (APA Division 50).

Teaching —

Teaching and Mentoring

Dr. Amlung teaches courses and mentors students in the MA/PhD graduate programs in Departments of Applied Behavioral Science at the University of Kansas.

Dr. Amlung’s teaching interests include courses in addictions, behavioral and neuroeconomics, research methods and meta-analytic approaches. He is also interested in professional development for faculty and students, including leadership, grant writing, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Dr. Amlung is deeply committed to his role as a mentor for graduate students, undergraduate students, and postdoctoral fellows who are interested in addictions and behavioral science research. Visit Dr. Amlung’s laboratory website to learn more about opportunities and mentoring philosophy.

Selected Publications —

View Complete List of Peer-Reviewed Publications on PubMed

Dr. Amlung’s mentees and postdoctoral fellows are denoted by **

**Miller, B.P., Aston, E.R., **Davis, W., Berey, B.L., Dowd, A.N., & Amlung, M. (In Press). Examining the effect of cannabis cues on cannabis demand in sleep, driving, and typical drug-use contexts. Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

**Weinsztok, S.C., Reed, D.D., Miller, B.P., & Amlung, M. (In Press). Adaptation of commodity purchase tasks to identify substitutable substance-free alternative activities for alcohol use. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.

**Davis, W., **Miller, B.P., & Amlung, M. (2024). Perceptions and attitudes related to driving after cannabis use in Canadian and U.S. adults. Substance Use and Addiction. 45(1):114-123.

**Miller, B.P., Reed, D.D., & Amlung, M. (2023). Reliability and validity of behavioral economic measures: a review and synthesis of discounting and demand. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. 120(2), 263-280.

**Weinsztok, S.C., Reed, D. D., & Amlung, M. (2023) Identifying substitute activities for alcohol consumption: a preliminary analysis. Addiction Research and Theory. 31, 209-219.

**Weinsztok, S.C., Reed, D. D., & Amlung, M. (2023). Substance-related cross-commodity purchase tasks: A systematic review. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 37(1), 72-86.

**Miller, B.P., Murphy, J.G., MacKillop, J., & Amlung, M. (2023). Next-day responsibilities attenuate demand for alcohol among a crowdsourced sample of community adults. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. 31(3), 633-642.

**Patel, H.N. & Amlung, M. (2023). Income shock increases preferences for smaller immediate rewards and reduces alcohol demand among a sample of crowd-sourced adults. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. 31(3), 605-611.

Amlung, M., Owens, M. M., Hargreaves, T., Gray, J. C., Murphy, C. M., MacKillop, J., & Sweet, L. H. (2022). Neuroeconomic predictors of smoking cessation outcomes: A preliminary study of delay discounting in treatment-seeking adult smokers. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 327, 111555.

**Morris, V., Bock, N., Minuzzi, L., MacKillop, J., & Amlung, M (2022). Intracortical myelin in individuals with alcohol use disorder: An initial proof-of-concept study. Brain & Behavior. e2762.

Naudé, G.P., Strickland, J.S., & Reed, D.D. & Amlung, M. (2022). Delay discounting and neurocognitive performance in young adults with differential patterns of substance use: Findings from the Human Connectome Project. Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology, 30, 682-691.

**Patel H., Holshausen, K., Oshri, A., Andrews, K., Penta, S., Raymond, H., McKinnon, M., Brasch, J., MacKillop, J., & Amlung, M. (2022). Posttraumatic stress disorder and substance use in an outpatient concurrent disorders sample. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.         

**Patel, H., **Naish, K., Soreni, N., Amlung, M. (2022). The effects of a single transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) session on impulsivity and risk among a sample of adult recreational cannabis users. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 16:758285

**Morris, V., Syan, S.K., MacKillop, J., & Amlung, M. (2022). Resting state functional connectivity in alcohol users and co-users of other substances. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. 321:111461

**Weinsztok, S., Brassard, S., Balodis, I., Martin, L., & Amlung, M. (2021). Delay discounting in established and proposed behavioral addictions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 15:786358

Naudé, G.P., Reed, D.D., Thornton, T.J., & Amlung, M. (2021). Dual use of alcohol and cannabis among college students: A reinforcer pathologies approach. Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology, 29, 407-417. 

**Patel, H. & Amlung, M.  (2020). Acute and extended exposure to episodic future thinking in a treatment seeking addiction sample: A pilot study. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment. 116.  

**Morris, V., Goodgame Huffman, L., **Naish, K., Holshausen, K., Oshri, A., McKinnon, M., Amlung, M. (2020). Impulsivity as a mediating factor in the association between post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and substance use. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(6), 659-668.  

**Vedelago, L., Metrik, J., & Amlung, M. (2020). Differentiating medicinal and recreational cannabis users via cannabis use motives. Cannabis, 3(1). 

Amlung, M., Marsden, E., Holshausen, K., **Morris, V., **Patel, H., **Vedelago, L., **Naish, K. R., Reed, D. D., McCabe, R. E., (2019). Delay discounting as a transdiagnostic process in psychiatric disorders: A meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry, 76, 1176-1186. 

Amlung, M., Reed, D.D., **Morris, V., Aston, E.R., Metrik, J., & MacKillop, J. (2019). Price Elasticity of Illegal vs Legal Cannabis: A Behavioral Economic Substitutability Analysis. Addiction, 114, 112-118. 

Amlung, M. & MacKillop, J., (2019). Availability of legalized cannabis reduces demand for illegal cannabis among Canadian cannabis users: Evidence from a behavioural economic substitution paradigm. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 110, 216-221. 

**Morris, V., Owens, M. M., Syan, S. K., Petker, T. D., Sweet, L. H., Oshri, A., MacKillop, J., & Amlung, M. (2019). Associations between drinking and cortical thickness in younger adults: Findings from the Human Connectome Project. Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 43(9), 1918-1927. 

**Patel, H., Reed, D.D., MacKillop, J., & Amlung, M. (2019). Clarifying the Relation between Alcohol Demand and Alcohol-Related Relative Reinforcement and Driving after Drinking in a Canadian Community Sample. Canadian Journal of Addiction, 10(1), 16-23.