I'm interested in the way that signals from your body, such as breathing or heartbeat, are processed differently in people with mental health conditions. A clear example of this is the negative feedback loop that occurs during a panic attack, where a racing heart contributes to feelings of anxiety, which then causes the heart to beat faster. Beyond any specific condition, these interoceptive signals have also been highlighted as a key transdiagnostic feature of mental illness. One aspect of my research will be to focus on the neural pathways that underlay this processing, specifically the insular cortex and associated regions. This will employ behavioural, fMRI, MRS, and neurostimulation (TMS & TUS) techniques. I am also hoping to develop novel tasks to investigate how interoception specifically interacts with cognition.

 

I am supervised by Camilla Nord and joint funded by the ESRC and MRC.