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Cal Shearer

BA, MSc


DPhil Candidate

Investigating the neural underpinnings of inferential learning in humans and mice

I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology and Linguistics (PPL) at St John's College, Oxford in 2020. I then went on to gain my MSc in Neuroscience as part of the 1+3 combined MSc and DPhil in Neuroscience. I am now working towards my DPhil supervised by Professor Jill O'Reilly, Experimental Psychology, and Professor David Dupret and Dr Helen Barron, MRC Brain Network and Dynamics Unit, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences. 

My work involves using a cross-species approach to tackle the question of how mammals can learn to connect together different events in order to promote inferential decision making. In mice, I will use a combination of multichannel extracellular recordings and calcium imaging to measure the neural activity occurring during inference. I will also aim to interfere with these processes using optogenetics. In humans, I will analyse behaviour during inferential learning tasks and look at the effects of brain stimulation such as TMS and tDCS during crucial periods of rest.

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