Computational Psychopathology

We study processes of associative learning in human and animal models with the goal of understanding how the brain and mental processes produce behaviour and as applied to human learning in the developing field of Computational Psychopathology.

Associative theory provides a biologically plausible mechanism for understanding how brains learn, remember and act and is a bridge between the acquisition of biologically motivated behaviours (e.g., eating, drinking etc) and more complex information processing (e.g., reasoning about one's agency in the world).

The experiments conducted in the lab include basic biological research into animal behaviour and those on the relation between neurochemistry, structure and learning as well as experiments on human thinking and reasoning.

The translational impact of this work relates to understanding brain function and how therapy can benefit from insights into associative processes.

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Current projects involve studying instrumental learning in mouse models of serotonin action. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter implicated in the treatment of anxiety and depression and may play a crucial role in providing us with our sense of agency. Other projects involve the study of psychopathy and the biological substrate of interpersonal beliefs.