Singer Neuro Lab
School of Psychology, University of Sussex
Research
The goal of our research is to understand the psychological and neurobiological underpinnings of motivated behaviour. In particular, we study how individuals vary in aspects of addiction, impulsivity, and responsiveness to Pavlovian cues.
We encourage creative projects and we value diverse approaches for understanding and improving mental health. Projects in the lab are often multi-disciplinary, researching both models of addiction and working with people who have lived experience.
People
Dr Bryan Singer (Principal Investigator)
Bryan is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Sussex (Brighton, UK). Bryan's lab is part of the highly collaborative Biological Psychology group. He is the Director of the Sussex Addiction Research and Intervention Centre (SARIC) and a member of Sussex Neuroscience. Bryan also has an Associate role at The Open University (UK).
Current Lab Members
Rudy Kuzminski (PhD Student)
Rudy is investigating the brain regions responsible for individual variation in motivation and how neural activity in these areas can be modified via pharmacological treatment.
Ben Whittaker (Research Technician)
Ben is working on a project funded by the International Center for Responsible Gaming, studying how early-life adversity impacts susceptibility to developing addiction-like behaviour in adulthood.
Elena Tiddens (PhD Student)
In both animal models and people, Elena is studying how social conditions impact gambling behaviour. Using both pharmacology and principles of contingency management, Elena is developing strategies to reduce gambling.
Previous Members
Morgane Colom (former PhD Student)
Morgane is investigating synaptic morphology underlying individual variation in conditioned behaviours. She is also applying what she has learned about motivated behaviour in animals to studying how people vary in their responses to reward-predictive stimuli.
Kris Adamatzky (former PhD Student)
Using behavioural economic modelling, pharmacology, and analysis of ultrasonic vocalisations, Kris investigates how motivation and pleasure drive heroin and cocaine pursuit.
Julia Pustelnik (Placement Student)
Genie Gilkes (Placement Student)
Angharad Collins (Placement Student)
Morgan Zolkwer (Placement Student)
Sussex Addiction Research & Intervention Centre (SARIC)
Our centre is composed of researchers at Sussex that study all aspects of drug and behavioural addictions, including theoretical modelling, neuroscience, human laboratory, clinical psychology, clinical trials, epidemiology, and policy issues. For more information, please see the websites listed below.