Publications

• MS Thesis
  Joshi, A. (2024). Cannabis use and social controllability: Differences between medical and recreational users [Master’s thesis, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.[Link]
  Abstract:
  Differences Between Medical and Recreational Users Abstract: This thesis examines the choice behaviors and decision-making processes of medical and recreational cannabis users. Through a comparative analysis, it seeks to investigate whether medical users exhibit more controlled decision-making and perceive better control than recreational users in a social task. The study employs quantitative methods to analyze data from user surveys and the modified ultimatum game experiment. Findings reveal that cannabis users showed an impaired sense of control. While there are notable differences in choice behaviors, medical users did not perceive higher control under the controllable condition and failed to influence offer sizes as expected. These results highlight the impact of cannabis use on psychosocial functioning and its implications on decision-making. The research underscores the need for further studies to explore the underlying mechanisms and broader societal impacts of cannabis use.

• Computational Psychiatry Conference Poster
  Rhoads, S. A., Joshi, A., Kulkarni, K. R., & Gu, X. (2024). Distinct effects of depression and social anxiety on social craving computations. Poster presented at the Computational Psychiatry Conference, Minneapolis, MN (July, p.31).[Link]
  Abstract:
  Globally, loneliness and social isolation have become an epidemic and a significant challenge for public health. Social craving, or the desire to connect with others, is a core feature of loneliness that motivates social activity seeking to relieve the distress associated with a perceived lack of social connection. Understanding mechanisms related to social craving is thus crucial for clarifying its connection to mental health symptoms such as depression and anxiety. Here, we developed a novel paradigm and model to characterize the computational basis of momentary social craving. Participants (N=93) completed a social cue-induced craving task in which they learned choices that either placed them in social cue-rich environments or not and rated their momentary social craving. Using a dynamic computational model of decision-making and subjective craving with detailed model comparison, we found that social craving arises algorithmically as a weighted combination of bottom-up signals (i.e., cue-reactivity) and top-down signals (i.e., prior expectations), which in turn impacts future updating about social expectations. Furthermore, we found that depression and anxiety symptoms had opposing effects on social craving computations: the impact of current social expectations on future social craving was reduced in depression (b=−.26, t=−2.00, p=.048; controlling for social anxiety), but elevated in people with higher social anxiety (b=.30, t=2.31, p=.026; controlling for depression). These results provide a computational account of momentary social craving and suggest differential computational phenotypes may underlie why unresolved loneliness is a major risk factor for the onset and persistence of depression and social anxiety—a noteworthy finding given their high comorbidity. Next steps will entail a pre-registered study to replicate findings and examine specific symptoms.

• Medical Education Reports
  Kochhar K, Ho M, Joshi A. “Graduate Medical Education Exit Survey Report”, Aannual reports for 16 different residency/fellowship programs of the IU School of Medicine, Office of Graduate Medical Education (2018-2020)
  [2020] | [2019] | [2018]
  Kochhar K, Ho M, Joshi A, Fancher L. “Indiana Family Medicine Residencies Exit Survey Report” created annual reports for 13 different family medicine residencies across Indiana, Indiana Medical Education Board (2017-2019)
  [2019] | [2018] | [2017]