Research groups
Ben Seymour
BSc MB ChB PhD MRCP FRSA
Professor of Clinical Neuroscience
- Wellcome Senior Fellow
- Consultant Neurologist
- Turing Fellow
Pain and aversive learning, with a focus on computational neuroscience and neurotechnology
Pain and aversive learning
My lab addresses the computational and systems neuroscience of pain. This research is part theoretical: building realistic models of neuronal information processes to understand processes of pain perception and behaviour, and part experimental: testing these theories using a range of experimental methodologies, especially fMRI. My research aims to develop new technology-based therapies for treating pain in clinical populations.
I am a Wellcome Senior Clinical Fellow at Oxford University, working jointly at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging and the Oxford Institute for Biomedical Engineering; and a visiting researcher at ATR labs (Kyoto). I am a Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute with an interest in safe AI control systems. I am also an honorary consultant neurologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust with an interest in behavioural homeostasis and sleep, pain and fatigue neurology.
Key publications
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Computational and neural mechanisms of statistical pain learning.
Journal article
Mancini F. et al, (2022), Nat Commun, 13
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Pain Control by Co-adaptive Learning in a Brain-Machine Interface.
Journal article
Zhang S. et al, (2020), Curr Biol, 30, 3935 - 3944.e7
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Pain: A Precision Signal for Reinforcement Learning and Control
Journal article
Seymour B., (2019), Neuron, 101, 1029 - 1041
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The control of tonic pain by active relief learning
Journal article
Zhang S. et al, (2017)
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Fear reduction without fear through reinforcement of neural activity that bypasses conscious exposure.
Journal article
Koizumi A. et al, (2016), Nat Hum Behav, 1
Recent publications
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Neurofeedback modulation of insula activity via MEG-based brain-machine interface: a double-blind randomized controlled crossover trial.
Journal article
Wang Y. et al, (2025), Commun Biol, 8
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How the magnitude and precision of pain predictions shape pain experiences.
Journal article
Derksen SMJC. et al, (2025), Eur J Pain, 29
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Short-term variability of chronic musculoskeletal pain
Preprint
Zheng X. et al, (2025)
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Enhanced behavioural and neural sensitivity to punishments in chronic pain and fatigue.
Journal article
Mancini F. et al, (2024), Brain
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Statistical learning shapes pain perception and prediction independently of external cues.
Journal article
Onysk J. et al, (2024), Elife, 12