Modelling trajectories of cognitive control in adolescents and young adults. This project aims to develop an innovative framework that models behaviour, brain function and brain structure to characterise developmental trajectories of cognitive control in typically-developing young people, and to test the model’s ability to predict psychosocial outcomes. Cognitive control processes are supported by complex frontal brain networks that develop well into adulthood. Poor cognitive control is linked t ....Modelling trajectories of cognitive control in adolescents and young adults. This project aims to develop an innovative framework that models behaviour, brain function and brain structure to characterise developmental trajectories of cognitive control in typically-developing young people, and to test the model’s ability to predict psychosocial outcomes. Cognitive control processes are supported by complex frontal brain networks that develop well into adulthood. Poor cognitive control is linked to negative psychosocial outcomes (e.g. substance use, high-risk behaviours). This work is expected to inform evidence-based programmes that identify young people at risk and develop targeted training strategies to improve psychosocial outcomes.Read moreRead less
Cognitive flexibility from adolescence to senescence: variability associated with cognitive strategy and brain connectivity. Healthy living in our complex and unpredictable world depends on the ability to flexibly adjust to novelty and change. This project will study how cognitive flexibility changes from adolescence to senescence, identify the brain networks that mediate this change and explore the implications for successful adaptation in everyday life.
Attention please! Selective attention and human associative learning. Selective attention allows us to pick useful pieces of information out of the mass of stimulation that we're faced with every moment. This project investigates how what we've previously learnt about the significance of events influences whether we'll pick them out as useful in future, and how this might be impaired by old age or mental disorder.