Research Intern Nicholas Li presented the findings from his senior thesis project entitled, “Too Tired to Try? An Investigation into Sleep, Cannabis, and Reward Effort in Adolescents” on April 30th, 2025.
“This project focused on the relationship between sleep and decision-making in adolescents, and whether cannabis use moderates that association. We indexed sleep using self-report surveys of sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairment. We indexed decision-making using a behavioral task where participants chose between an easy (low effort/low reward) and hard (high effort/high reward) choice. When reward value and reward effort were held constant at their average, we found that for controls, as sleep disturbance increased, the proportion of hard effort choices decreased, as hypothesized. However, for the cannabis group, as sleep disturbance increased, the proportion of hard effort choices actually increased, contrary to our hypothesis. Future research should be done on the mechanisms behind sleep, cannabis use, and decision-making in adolescents.” – Nicholas Li
Research intern Alex LeVert will be working on her first independent project this summer under the guidance of Dr. Thomas, which is supported by the Brown Advanced Undergraduate Research Fellowship. She will research her project, “Evaluating Impulsivity in Adolescent Cannabis Use: The Role of Biological Sex,” which focuses on the intersections of impulsivity facets, cannabis use, and their differences between males and females.
Dr. Sarah Thomas, PI of the Teen Decision-Making Lab, was recently awarded $132,000 in funding though the Zimmerman Innovation Award. This Carney Institute award will allow Dr. Thomas to examine how cannabis use affects adolescent brains and behavior over time.