Michael Amlung
- Associate Director for Training
Contact Info
Lawrence
1000 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66045
Lawrence
1000 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66045
Personal Links
Biography —
Dr. Michael Amlung is the Associate Director for Training and Senior Scientist in the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment, a Professor in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science, and the Director of the Behavioral Economics and Addiction Neuroscience Laboratory. 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. 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. In Summer 2020, Dr. Amlung joined the faculty at KU and moved his laboratory to the Lawrence campus. Dr. Amlung’s research is funded by grants by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and other institutional grants and awards.
Teaching —
Dr. Amlung teaches courses and mentors undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Applied Behavioral Science.
Dr. Amlung’s teaching interests include courses in addictions, behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, research methods and data analytic approaches. He is also interested in professional development for faculty and students, including leadership, grant writing, and graduate student mentorship.
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.
Selected Publications —
View Complete List of Peer-Reviewed Publications on PubMed.
Dr. Amlung’s mentees and postdoctoral fellows are denoted by **
Weinsztok, S.C., Reed, D.R., & Amlung, M. (In Press). Further adaptation of cross-commodity purchase task methodology: The impact of preference rank on demand. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Aston, E. R., Amlung, M. (In Press). Gimmie the gummies: Initial validation of the edible marijuana purchase task. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology.
**Miller, B. P., Murphy, J. G., MacKillop, J., Martin, L. E., & Amlung, M. (2026). Family history of problem drinking is associated with reduced sensitivity of alcohol demand to next-day responsibilities: A replication and extension. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
**Csölle, K., Amlung, M., Bravo, A.J., Ortet-Walker, J., Vidal Arenas, V., Michelini, Y., Romano E., & Cross-Cultural Addictions Study Team. (2026). Risk perceptions related to driving after use of alcohol and cannabis in a cross-national sample of university students in six countries. Substance Use & Addiction Journal. 47(1):112-122.
**Miller, B.P., Aston, E.R., Spindle, T.R., & Amlung, M. (2026). Pass the keys: Using behavioral economics to explore driving after cannabis use. Substance Use & Addiction Journal. 47(1):134-143.
**Weinsztok, S.C. & Amlung, M. (2025). Research synthesis in behavior analysis I: An introductory guide to conducting systematic reviews. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 124(1): e70040.
**Miller, B.P., **Csölle, K., **Chen, C., **Lester, A., **Weinsztok, S.C., Aston, E.R., Amlung, M. (2025). Exploring the suitability of cannabis use with next-day responsibilities: A behavioral-economic and qualitative study. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 123, 41-56.
Elsayed, M., Marsden, E., Hargreaves, T., Syan, S.K., MacKillop, J., & Amlung, M. (2024). Triple network resting-state functional connectivity patterns of alcohol heavy drinking. Alcohol and Alcoholism. 59(5), agae056.
**Weinsztok, S.C., Reed, D.D., **Miller, B.P., & Amlung, M. (2024). Adaptation of commodity purchase tasks to identify substitutable substance-free alternative activities for alcohol use. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 32(4), 398-409.
Amlung, M., Marsden, E., Hargreaves, T., Sweet, L.H., Murphy, J.G., & MacKillop, J. (2024). Neural correlates of increased alcohol demand following alcohol cue exposure in adult heavy drinkers. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. 340, 111809
**Miller, B.P., Aston, E.R., **Davis, W., Berey, B.L., Dowd, A.N., & Amlung, M. (2024). Examining the effect of cannabis cues on cannabis demand in sleep, driving, and typical drug-use contexts. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 251, 111057.
**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.
**Marsden, E., Murphy, J.G., MacKillop, J., & Amlung, M. (2023). Alcohol cues increase behavioral economic demand and craving for alcohol in non-treatment seeking and treatment-seeking heavy drinkers. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, 47, 2149-2160.
**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.
**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.
**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.
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.
Grants & Other Funded Activity —
2026-2027
University of Kansas Cancer Center Pilot Grant
Title: Improving Standardized Alcohol Screening to Inform Novel Intervention Approaches in Head and Neck Cancer
Role: Principal Investigator
Total Funding: $50,000
2025-2027
National Institute on Drug Abuse, F31 DA063325
Title: Contextual Factors Influencing Cannabis Use and Behavioral Economic Demand in the Natural Environment
Role: Sponsor (Principal Investigator: Brandon Miller, M.A.)
Total Funding: $80,616
2025-2026
University of Kansas General Research Fund
Title: Mixed Methods Refinement of Behavioral Economic Measures for Emerging Cannabis Products
Role: Principal Investigator
Total Funding: $11,300
2019-2024
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, R01 AA027255-01
Title Using Neuroeconomics to Characterize State-Based Increases and Decreases in Alcohol Value
Role: Principal Investigator
Total Funding: $1,039,256 (USD)
2018-2021
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, R21 AA026392
Title: Intracortical Myelin as a Novel Neural Marker of Alcohol Use Disorder
Role: Principal Investigator
Total Funding: $281,772 (USD)
2018-2023
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, R01 AA025911
Title: Using Neuroeconomics to Understand Alcohol Overvaluation in Alcohol Use Disorder
Role: Co-Investigator (PIs: James MacKillop, Lawrence Sweet)
Total Funding: $1,274,651 (USD)
2016-2021
Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), Project Grant
Title: Applying Behavioral Economics to Predict Alcohol Trajectories during the Transition to Adulthood
Role: Co-Investigator (PI: James MacKillop)
Total Funding: $1,215,555 (CAD)