Research

Traditional experimental paradigms are often far removed from everyday experiences. However, recent advances in computational approaches (software to design experiments, like video game engines and modelling of complex behaviour) make it possible to design tasks that better capture cognitions relevant for real life. We use this approach to understand cognition, underlying brain mechanisms and their link to real-life traits (e.g. psychiatric symptoms

While psychiatric disorders are very common, no objective diagnostic measures exist and predicting for whom which treatment will work is difficult. We are part of a movement to address this (computational psychiatry) by using computational modelling to understand and obtain objective measures of the cognitive and neural bases of psychiatric disorders. 

One difficulty in psychiatry research is that disorders are heterogeneous (e.g. two patients with depression can have completely different symptoms) and symptoms are overlapping (e.g. sleep disturbances are found across many psychiatric disorders). An alternative approach has therefore emerged that links dimensions of psychiatric disorders (e.g. anhedonia, anxiety) to behaviours in cognitive tasks.

Recently, meditation, particularly in the form of mindfulness ‘packages’ involving many different meditation techniques, have become widely available as training programs. One common reason people meditate is to improve their emotional experience and regulation ability. While many studies show that meditation can be clearly beneficial for some people, this is not true for all people. It is therefore important to understand the cognitive and neural mechanisms of meditation and link them to individual differences.

The overarching question of this part of our work is how different brain networks learn in parallel with different computational advantages, and how the brain then integrates this plethora of information into a single coherent behaviour. We tackle this question by measuring brain activity in humans, causally manipulating different neurotransmitter systems, and using computational modelling to tease apart and precisely measure different cognitive processes.