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Contact information


masud.husain@ndcn.ox.ac.uk


+44(0)1865 223875


Jayne Bullock
pa@ndcn.ox.ac.uk


http://www.masudhusain.org

Research groups

Colleges

Websites

Biography

Masud is Professor of Neurology & Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Oxford. He co-leads the Dementia Theme of the Oxford Health NIHR Biomedical Research Centre and is Editor-in-Chief of Brain. Together with Cornelia van Duijn, he leads Dementia Research Oxford.

Between 2013-23 he held a Principal Fellowship at Oxford, awarded by The Wellcome Trust. He is a Professorial Fellow at New College. Previously he was Professor of Clinical Neurology at UCL & The National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery, London and Deputy Director of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience.

Masud read Physiological Sciences / Medicine (1981-84) at Oxford before completing his PhD here in 1987. He held a Harkness Fellowship and was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT, prior to returning to Oxford to finish his clinical degree. After Neurology training in London, he held a joint appointment as Consultant Neurologist and Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow (2000-12), first at Imperial College, then at UCL.

Awards

  • Winner, Royal Society Trivedi Best Science Book, 2025
  • CLARIVATE highly-cited researcher, 2025
  • Graham Bull Prize in Clinical Science, Royal College of Physicians London
  • Elizabeth Warrington Prize, British Neuropsychological Society.
  • Fellow of Academy of Medical Sciences
  • Fellow of American Academy of Neurology
  • Fellow of European Academy of Neurology

Masud Husain

FRS FRCP FMedSci FAAN FEAN MA DPhil BMBCh

Professor of Neurology & Cognitive Neuroscience

  • Professorial Fellow, New College
  • Co-lead, Dementia Theme, Oxford Health NIHR Biomedical Research Centre
  • Co-lead, Dementia Research Oxford
  • Editor-in-Chief, Brain

Memory and motivation in health and dementia

Research Summary

My research focuses on

  • Memory in healthy individuals and patients with memory disorders
  • Motivation and apathy in healthy people and patient groups

We're funded by The Wellcome Trust and the NIHR Oxford Health BRC.

We see patients in the Cognitive Disorders Clinic at the John Radcliffe Hospital and the Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, Dept of Experimental Psychology.

Our research on fundamental mechanisms underlying attention, working memory and motivated decision-making in healthy people is conducted in our research centres at the Dept of Experimental Psychology and the West Wing, John Radcliffe Hospital.

Masud's new book

Winner, Royal Society Trivedi Best Science Book, 2025 and a Financial Times, Times and Guardian Best Science Book, 2025

Key publications

The computational cost of active information sampling before decision-making under uncertainty.

Journal article

Petitet P. et al, (2021), Nat Hum Behav, 5, 935 - 946

Cerebrovascular risk factors impact frontoparietal network integrity and executive function in healthy ageing.

Journal article

Veldsman M. et al, (2020), Nat Commun, 11

Neuroscience of apathy and anhedonia: a transdiagnostic approach.

Journal article

Husain M. and Roiser JP., (2018), Nat Rev Neurosci, 19, 470 - 484

Changing concepts of working memory.

Journal article

Ma WJ. et al, (2014), Nat Neurosci, 17, 347 - 356

Functional role of the supplementary and pre-supplementary motor areas.

Journal article

Nachev P. et al, (2008), Nat Rev Neurosci, 9, 856 - 869

Dynamic shifts of limited working memory resources in human vision.

Journal article

Bays PM. and Husain M., (2008), Science, 321, 851 - 854

Abnormal temporal dynamics of visual attention in spatial neglect patients.

Journal article

Husain M. et al, (1997), Nature, 385, 154 - 156

Recent publications

Three ‘C words’

Journal article

(2026), Brain, 149, 2561 - 2561

Working memory deficits in hippocampal amnesia are associated with apathy.

Journal article

Attaallah B. et al, (2026), J Neurosci

Apathy in persons with neurocognitive disorders: Moving the field forward.

Journal article

Gatchel JR. et al, (2026), Int Psychogeriatr

The significance of electrophysiological recordings from the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in humans.

Journal article

Husain M., (2026), Brain, 149, 2185 - 2186

A hippocampal neuroimaging signature of neurovascular insulin signalling links metabolism to mood

Preprint

Cherix A. et al, (2026)

The Relationship Between Sleep, Cognition, and Dementia Risk in People With Focal Epilepsy.

Journal article

Tai XY. et al, (2026), Neurology, 106

Evidence from multifeature whole-report in visual short-term memory suggests that not all misbinding is swapping.

Journal article

Tabi YA. et al, (2026), Sci Rep, 16

Apathy precedes worsening depression, but not the reverse

Preprint

Zhao S. et al, (2026)

Neurochemical drivers of effort: The roles of dopamine and beyond in physical and cognitive exertion.

Journal article

Periche-Tomas E. et al, (2026), Neurosci Biobehav Rev, 186

The social dimension of apathy: evidence for a distinct domain from 11,243 individuals across health and neurocognitive disorders.

Journal article

Zhao S. et al, (2026), Transl Psychiatry

More publications