Drug addiction
Progress has been made in the understanding of molecular, neural and neuropsychological bases of drug addiction, based on the hypothesis that addiction involves a devolution of behavioural control from the prefrontal cortex to the striatum, and from the ventral to the dorsal striatum. This is paralleled in a shift from impulsive to compulsive behaviour.
Neural and neurochemical basis of cognition in animals and humans
Neuronal signals for reward, risk and economic decision making in nonhuman primates have been identified using single unit recording of dopamine and orbitofrontal neurons and complementary human studies using fMRI. New methods for assessing cognition in rodents and in humans have been developed. The role in human neuropsychology of the frontoparietal cortex in subjective experience of recollection and reality monitoring have been investigated. Paradoxical false memories have been recorded.
The social neuroscience of decision-making and affect
Research includes the neurochemical and emotional modulation of moral judgment and well-being; the neuropsychological substrates of impulsive decision-making; innovative studies of traits and personality.
The BCNI Clinical Behavioural Neuroscience Group
Work in the BCNI translates behavioural neuroscience findings to improved understanding of neuropsychological and neurochemical bases of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), frontal lobe injury, compulsive gambling, anxiety, schizophrenia and depression.
Research highlights
- The development of the CANTAB battery and CANTAB-PAL as innovative diagnostic tools.
- Touch-screen based cognitive testing development.
- The development of a new theory of the organization of cognition in the medial temporal lobe and ventral visual stream.
Ongoing research
- A study of emotional influences on decision-making, including the effects of various stressors on risk-taking and the role of bodily signals in governing decision-making.
- A study of distorted thought processes that occur during gambling, and the role these play in disordered gambling, viewed from an addictions framework.
- A study of the role of the oxytocin system in well-being.