Northern Illinois University
Department of Psychology
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Research Interests

My research is focused on the interactions of stress, emotion, behavior, and neurobiological processes. Using animal models, this research investigates:

• The overlap of the brain and behavior in the context of social isolation and loneliness
• The influence of social and environmental stress in mediating depression, anxiety, and other mood-related disorders
• The interactions of social behavior with cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune system function
• The benefits of exercise, music, and other environmental treatments for protecting against stress

Frequently Taught Classes

• PSYC 300 - Introduction to Brain and Behavior
• PSYC481/581 - Drugs and Behavior
• PSYC 603 - Biopsychology
• PSYC 670E - Studies in Experimental Psychology, Social Neuroscience

Representative Publications

• Grippo AJ, Akinbo OI, Amidei A, Wardwell J, Normann MC, Ciosek S, Kovalev D. Maladaptive cardiac and behavioral reactivity to repeated vicarious stress exposure in socially bonded male prairie vole siblings. Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical 251: 103145, 2024. (PMC 10843770)
• Frasier RM, de Oliveira Sergio T, Starski PA, Grippo AJ, Hopf FW. Heart rate variability measures indicating sex differences in autonomic regulation during anxiety-like behavior in rats. Frontiers in Psychiatry 14: 1244389, 2023. (PMC 10644002)
• Nuccio DA, Normann MC, Zhou H, Grippo AJ, Singh P. Microbiome and metabolome variation as indicators of social stress in female prairie voles. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24: 1677, 2023. (PMC 9861106)
• Akinbo OI, McNeal N, Hylin MJ, Hite N, Dagner A, Grippo AJ. The influence of environmental enrichment on affective and neural consequences of social isolation across development. Affective Science 3(4): 713-733, 2022. (PMC 9743881)
• Hylin MJ, Watanasriyakul WT, Hite N, McNeal N, Grippo AJ. Morphological changes in the basolateral amygdala and behavioral disruptions associated with social isolation. Behavioural Brain Research 416: 113572, 2022. (PMC 8492539)
• Venero C, Grippo AJ, Lai JCL. Editorial: endocrinology of loneliness and social isolation. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 16: 978386, 2022. (PMC 9400801)
• Normann MC, Cox M, Akinbo OI, Watanasriyakul WT, Kovalev D, Ciosek S, Miller T, Grippo AJ. Differential paraventricular nucleus activation and behavioral responses to social isolation in prairie voles following environmental enrichment with and without physical exercise. Social Neuroscience 16(4): 375-390, 2021. (PMC 8324548)
• Grippo AJ, McNeal N, Normann MC, Colburn W, Dagner A, Woodbury M. Behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of disrupting a long-term monogamous social bond in aging prairie voles. Stress 24: 239-250, 2021. (PMC 7914264)
• Wardwell J, Watanasriyakul WT, Normann MC, Akinbo OI, McNeal N, Ciosek S, Cox M, Holzapfel N, Sujet S, Grippo AJ. Physiological and behavioral responses to observing a sibling experience a direct stressor in prairie voles. Stress 23: 444-456, 2020. (PMC 7335336)
• Grippo AJ, McNeal N, Watanasriyakul WT, Cacioppo S, Scotti ML, Dagner A. Behavioral and cardiovascular consequences of disrupted oxytocin communication in cohabitating pairs of male and female prairie voles. Social Neuroscience 14: 649-662, 2019. (PMC 6669126)
• Jarcho MR, McNeal N, Colburn W, Normann MC, Watanasriyakul WT, Grippo AJ. Wheel access has opposing effects on stress physiology depending on the social environment in female prairie voles. Stress 22: 265-275, 2019. (PMC 6476667)
• McNeal N, Watanasriyakul WT, Normann MC, Akinbo OI, Dagner A, Ihm E, Wardwell J, Grippo AJ. The negative effects of social bond disruption are partially ameliorated by sertraline administration in prairie voles. Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical 219: 5-18, 2019. (PMC 6540807)
• Watanasriyakul WT, Normann MC, Akinbo OI, Colburn W, Dagner A, Grippo AJ. Protective neuroendocrine effects of environmental enrichment and voluntary exercise against social isolation: evidence for mediation by limbic structures. Stress 22: 603-618, 2019. (PMC 6690777)
• Watanasriyakul WT, Wardwell J, McNeal N, Schultz R, Woodbury M, Dagner A, Cox M, Grippo AJ. Voluntary physical exercise protects against behavioral and endocrine reactivity to social and environmental stressors in the prairie vole. Social Neuroscience 13: 602-615, 2018. (PMC 6082717)
• McNeal N, Appleton KM, Johnson AK, Scotti ML, Wardwell J, Murphy R, Bishop C, Knecht A, Grippo AJ. The protective effects of social bonding on behavioral and pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity to chronic mild stress in prairie voles. Stress 20: 175-182, 2017. (PMC 5612411)
• Scotti ML, Carlton ED, Demas GE, Grippo AJ. Social isolation disrupts innate immune responses in both male and female prairie voles and enhances agonistic behavior in female prairie voles. Hormones and Behavior 70: 7-13, 2015. (PMC 4409529)
• Grippo AJ, Ihm E, Wardwell J, McNeal N, Scotti ML, Moenk DA, Chandler DL, LaRocca MA*, Preihs K. The effects of environmental enrichment on depressive- and anxiety-relevant behaviors in socially isolated prairie voles. Psychosomatic Medicine 76: 277-284, 2014. (PMC 4020982)
• McNeal N, Scotti ML, Wardwell J, Chandler DL, Bates SL, LaRocca M, Trahanas DM, Grippo AJ. Disruption of social bonds induces behavioral and physiological dysregulation in male and female prairie voles. Autonomic Neuroscience: Basic and Clinical 180: 9-16, 2014. (PMC 3947225)