My Expertise
My research investigates the psychology and biology of motivated learning, decision-making, and behaviour.
My main area of interest is how we learn and make decisions about actions with negative consequences ("punishment learning"). Understanding why we stop vs. fail to stop doing things that are bad for us is key to understanding and improving the choices we make in our everyday lives. It also has relevance for a number of conditions characterised by dysfunctions in punishment learning, like addictions (e.g. drug addiction, gambling disorder), psychopathy (e.g. conduct disorder), and depression.
Keywords
Fields of Research (FoR)
Behavioural neuroscience, Biological psychology, Central nervous system, Learning, motivation and emotion, Decision makingSEO tags
Biography
I am a behavioural neuroscientist and experimental psychologist at UNSW School of Psychology. I recevied my PhD from UNSW School of Psychology in 2015.
My research seeks to understand the psychology and neurobiology of motivated learning, decision-making, and behaviour. I am particularly interested in how we learn and make decisions about actions with negative consequences ("punishment learning").
My Grants
Australian...view more
I am a behavioural neuroscientist and experimental psychologist at UNSW School of Psychology. I recevied my PhD from UNSW School of Psychology in 2015.
My research seeks to understand the psychology and neurobiology of motivated learning, decision-making, and behaviour. I am particularly interested in how we learn and make decisions about actions with negative consequences ("punishment learning").
My Grants
Australian Research Council
Discovery Project (2022-2024). “Brain circuits for parsing aversion” [Lead investigator, AU$340,023]
My Qualifications
2015 PhD, UNSW Sydney
My Awards
2025 D. G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association
2024 Best Paper Award - General Category, Biological Psychiatry Australia
2023 Millennium Science Fellowship: "Identifying transcriptomic signatures of adaptive versus maladaptive learning about adverse action consequences”
2023 Translation Launchpad Program, UNSW Sydney
2022 Early Career Achievement Award, International Behavioral Neuroscience Society
2022 D. G. Marquis Behavioral Neuroscience Award, American Psychological Association
2015 The Paxinos Neuroscience Prize, UNSW Sydney
2011 Istvan Tork Neuroscience Prize, UNSW Sydney
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
We have projects investigating psychological and neurobiological determinants of learning, decision-making and behaviour. I am willing to supervise Masters and PhD students.
Currently supervising
PhD:
Bixuan Lin
Luke Keevers
Min Lou
My Engagement
Editorial Board: Journal of Neuroscience; Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Faculty, Australasian Course in Advanced Neuroscience (ACAN), Australasian Neuroscience Society
Guest Editor, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Special Issue: Mechanisms for punishment learning and decision-making
Media
Understanding Punishment Learning (2024). Nesh Nikolic, Better Thinking Podcast
Self-destructive behaviour — the enemy within (2023). ABC | Future Tense
Temptation is everywhere we look. Here's how we can stop returning to self-destructive habits (2023). Antony Funnell, ABC | Future Tense
Research sheds new light on self-destructive behaviour (2023). Lachlan Gilbert, UNSW Newsroom
Punishment only works on some, here's why (2021). Education Today
Why punishment may work on some, but not all people (2021). Lachlan Gilbert, UNSW Newsroom
Mesolimbic dopamine activity signatures of relapse (2020). TDT Talks | Fiber Photometry Series, Tucker-Davis Technologies
ORCID as entered in ROS
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0898-8987