Colleges
Websites
-
Masud Husain
Profile
-
Personal Website
Personal Website
-
Husain Lab Website
Host Lab
-
BBSRC Future Leader Fellows
Fellowship details
-
Cognitive Neurology Research Group
Research Group
Matthew Apps
BSc, MSc, PhD
BBSRC AFL Fellow
- Somerville College Fulford Junior Research Fellow
The neural and computational basis of learning and decision-making
My research is focussed on understanding the mechanisms in the human brain that underpin learning and decision-making. Most of my research is focussed on investigating how statistical information about costs (such as risk, uncertainty or effort) and benefits (such as financial rewards) are processed in the brain, particularly when we are interacting with other people.
I use a combination of cognitive neuroscience methods, such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), in conjunction with computational modelling approaches. These techniques allow me to explore basic science questions in healthy adults. I also explore individual differences in clinical and sub-clinical populations to understand more about how decision-making processes can differ in disorders of motivation and social cognition. Currently I am involved in two main projects:
- Effort, apathy and reward – Examining the relationship between individual differences in apathy and how rewards are processed, when incurring physical or cognitive costs.
- Social decision-making – Examining the processing of rewards in the cingulate cortex during social interactions, and examining the functional and connectional properties of this area in the autistic spectrum.
Recent publications
-
Anterior cingulate cortex: A brain system necessary for learning to reward others?
Journal article
Lockwood PL. et al, (2020), PLoS Biol, 18
-
Foraging Optimally in Social Neuroscience: Computations and Methodological considerations.
Journal article
Gaba AS. and Apps MAJ., (2020), Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
-
Foraging Optimally in Social Neuroscience: Computations and Methodological considerations
Journal article
Gabay A. and Apps MAJ., (2019)
-
Dopamine and motivational state drive dynamics of human decision making
Journal article
Le Heron C. et al, (2019)
-
Motivational fatigue: A neurocognitive framework for the impact of effortful exertion on subsequent motivation.
Journal article
Müller T. and Apps MAJ., (2019), Neuropsychologia, 123, 141 - 151