Research groups
Colleges
Contact information
Nima Khalighinejad
MD MSc PhD
BBSRC Discovery Fellow
Cognitive neuroscience of voluntary action and decision-making
When performing a voluntary action, one has to decide not only which action to choose but whether, at any given point in time, it is worth taking any action as opposed to doing nothing at all, given the potential benefits of acting in a particular environment. My aim is to understand how the environmental context influences the willingness to initiate a volitional action and how it exerts this influence via brain circuits. Understanding such process are important because impairments in decisions about if and when to act are observed across a wide range of brain disorders such as apathy and impulsivity.
To answer this question, I design behavioural paradigms in which humans and/or non-human primates (NHPs) make decisions about when it is worth acting. While humans/NHPs are performing the task, I record their brain activity with electroencephalogram (EEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). I then use non-invasive brain stimulation methods such as transcranial ultrasound (TUS) to identify the causal relationship between the brain activity and behaviour.
I studied medicine at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. I then moved to London to do an MSc in Neuroscience at UCL followed by a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience. After receiving my PhD in 2017 I moved to Oxford. I have since been working at the department of Experimental Psychology and the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN).
Teaching:
- Module leader, Behavioural Neuroscience Core Practical.
Other duties:
- Member of the organising committee, Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience (BEACON) seminar series.
- ECR representative, Career Development, Athena SWAN Committee.
Key publications
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Complementary roles of serotonergic and cholinergic systems in decisions about when to act.
Journal article
Khalighinejad N. et al, (2022), Curr Biol
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A habenula-insular circuit encodes the willingness to act.
Journal article
Khalighinejad N. et al, (2021), Nat Commun, 12
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A Basal Forebrain-Cingulate Circuit in Macaques Decides It Is Time to Act.
Journal article
Khalighinejad N. et al, (2020), Neuron, 105, 370 - 384.e8
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Human decisions about when to act originate within a basal forebrain-nigral circuit.
Journal article
Khalighinejad N. et al, (2020), Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 117, 11799 - 11810
Recent publications
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Dorsal raphe nucleus controls motivation-state transitions in monkeys.
Journal article
Priestley L. et al, (2025), Sci Adv, 11
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Interpretable abstractions of artificial neural networks predict behavior and neural activity during human information gathering
Preprint
D'Ambrogio S. et al, (2025)
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Basis functions for complex social decisions in dorsomedial frontal cortex
Journal article
Wittmann MK. et al, (2025), Nature
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A distributed subcortical circuit linked to instrumental information-seeking about threat.
Journal article
Trier HA. et al, (2025), Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 122
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General mechanisms of task engagement in the primate frontal cortex.
Journal article
Grohn J. et al, (2024), Nat Commun, 15
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A frontopolar-temporal circuit determines the impact of social information in macaque decision making.
Journal article
Mahmoodi A. et al, (2024), Neuron, 112, 84 - 92.e6
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Dynamic off-resonance correction improves functional image analysis in fMRI of awake behaving non-human primates.
Journal article
Shahdloo M. et al, (2024), Front Neuroimaging, 3
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Dynamic off-resonance correction improves functional image analysis in fMRI of awake behaving non-human primates
Preprint
Shahdloo M. et al, (2023)
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Complementary roles of serotonergic and cholinergic systems in decisions about when to act.
Journal article
Khalighinejad N. et al, (2022), Curr Biol
-
A habenula-insular circuit encodes the willingness to act.
Journal article
Khalighinejad N. et al, (2021), Nat Commun, 12