Research

Which cognitive and neural processes are giving rise to mental illnesses? And what happens with these mechanisms during when mental health problems emerge? And how is this linked to brain and cognitive development? Our lab uses modern cognitive neuroscience and computational modelling methods to understand the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying mental illnesses and how we can change them.

Our lab focuses on the following research topics

Our lab focuses on unravelling the cognitive processes underlying decision-making in both healthy and clinical populations. We collect and analyse large datasets using innovative experimental designs and well-established methodologies to study multiple cognitive subdomains such as information gathering, risky decision-making, reward and punishment learning, exploration-exploitation, confidence, structure learning, and inhibition.

Our findings are translated into real-world applications through Brain Explorer, a globally accessible app that uses engaging online games to make our research impactful and ecologically valid.

Our lab is dedicated to understanding key mechanisms that underlie psychiatric symptoms. Our primary focus is on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a debilitating condition that affects 1-3% of the global population, although we are also interested in researching other psychiatric conditions and symptoms (e.g., anxiety, psychosis, and anhedonia).

We use various methods to understand mechanisms of psychopathology. For example, we recruit participants with clinical diagnoses of, for instance, OCD to online and in-lab studies. Participants are invited to complete a series of cognitive tasks and neuroscientific measures (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging scans) to understand how the disorder impacts brain and behaviour. Studying symptoms and their associated mechanisms in people with lived experience of the disorder brings us closer to determining clinically relevant components of OCD.

In addition, we are interested in how interventions (both established psychotherapeutic therapies and novel interventions) target aberrant (brain and cognitive) mechanisms associated with psychiatric disorders. The most common treatment for OCD is an evidence-based therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with exposure and response prevention (ERP). CBT is a structured form of therapy that aims to help individuals recognize and change unhelpful thought patterns. ERP is the type of CBT used for OCD (commonly known as “CBT with ERP”) as it directly targets the symptoms by exposing individuals to their specific fears while guiding them to resist performing compulsive behaviours. For example, someone with OCD suffering from harm-related fears might be asked to handle sharp objects during CBT with ERP.

CBT with ERP is often highly effective. However, it does not work for everyone, and we do not fully understand why. In our lab, we aim to better understand why CBT with ERP does not work for some people by examining how therapy impacts cognitive functions and brain mechanisms in affected individuals. This research could also help predict who would best benefit from which intervention, and help pave way for alternative interventions.

Our lab integrates advanced neuroimaging, computational, and behavioural techniques to uncover the neural mechanisms underlying human decision-making processes, and how they can go awry in mental disorders.

Using functional MRI (fMRI), Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and pupillometry, we investigate how the brain processes information and solves complex decision processes. Through computational modelling, we can disentangle distinct neurocognitive processes that contribute to complex decision making.

Example: Assessing the impact of endogenous fluctuations using real-time neuroimaging

One striking feature of human behaviour and decision making is its variability. Even when facing the same options—such as seemingly arbitrary decisions like choosing between a red or orange t-shirt—, we often choose inconsistently. We speculate that what was traditionally dismissed as “noise” may actually reflect subtle fluctuations in brain activity. By leveraging real-time fMRI, MEG and pupillometry data, we can examine the impact of these fluctuations in dopamine- and noradrenaline-rich areas and determine their impact on decision making variability. This approach allows us to delve into the dynamic interplay between neural variability and adaptive behaviour, shedding light on the brain’s ability to navigate complex environments with remarkable flexibility.

Our goal is to make scientific research accessible beyond a scientific audience. Through our outreach events we have connected with the public by creating a space for scientists and the community to have inspiring conversations. Our flagship outreach project “OCD and the Brain” – a project co-produced with people with lived experience and OCD charities – has recently won the 2024 ERC Public Engagement with Research Award.

Some of our outreach projects include:

Royal Society Lates: what's on your mind? Brain Explorer and OCD and the Brain had taken over the Wolfson Library Suite as a part of an evening exploring brains and cutting-edge neuroscience research.

New Scientist Live: We joined the MRF (Medical Research Foundation) to bring Brain Explorer to New Scientist’s celebration of science and innovation.

Our lab is based at the University of Tübingen and at University College London. If you are interested in working in the lab, join us! If you would like to participate in our studies, please get in touch!

Resources