Ciara McCabe
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+44 (0) 118 378 5450
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Professor of Neuroscience, Psychopharmacology and Mental Health & University Research Fellow
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Director of Neuroimaging of Reward Group (NRG).
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Director of Reading Scholars Programme in Psychology, University of Reading.
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Associate Editor, Frontiers in Psychiatry, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Section.
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University Research Fellow
Areas of interest
Prof Ciara McCabe examines reward processing at the behavioural and neural level, using motivational tasks and computational modelling. Prof McCabe examines how reward relates to the symptom of anhedonia in adults and adolescents with depression and how drug treatments interact with the reward response.
Prof McCabe did her PhD on the effects of anxiolytic drugs on frustrative non-reward in animal models at the University of Ulster. She did her first post doc with Prof Nader in primate models of drug addiction at Wake Forest, NC, USA.
She then moved to the Psychology Department at Oxford University to study human neuroimaging and reward function and subsequently to the Psychiatry Department at Oxford University to work on the neuroimaging of reward in patient groups.
Prof McCabe now runs the Neuroimaging of Reward Group (NRG) at the University of Reading.
How chocolate helps us understand depression - short video (YouTube)
How chocolate helps us understand depression - public lecture 2015 (YouTube)
Postgraduate supervision
Current PhD students: Siyabend Kaya, Soni Chahal, Phoenix Byrne, Hanxin Zhang, Angad Sahni, Sena Demir, Katie Diab.
Past PhD students: Rebecca Watson, Anna-Lena Frey, Zola Dean, Alex Antonesei, Ewelina Rzepa, Felicity Cowdrey and Anna Nakamura visiting PhD from Tokyo University.
Teaching
- Lecturer in cognition, learning and neuroscience
- MSc and BSc project supervisor.
Research projects
Funding: Medical Research Council and industry funding.Academic qualifications
- BSc Honours Psychology, Queens University Belfast, 1998
- PhD Psychology, University of Ulster, 2003
- Fellow of Higher Education Authority (FHEA), 2015.
Awards and honours
International Recognition:
- 2019: Invited by the Royal Society to give flash talk to the 3rd UK-Japan Frontiers of Science Symposium “Computational Brain Modelling and Brain-computer Interfaces”, Chiba, Japan.
- 2017: Invited to give "New Talent Talk" from Lundbeck Foundation, The Brain Prize Meeting, “Rewarding Neuroscience” Copenhagen.
- 2015: Senior Non-Clinical Psychopharmacology Award: The British Association of Psychopharmacology, Bristol.
- 2015: In Vivo Award: British Association for Psychopharmacology, Bristol.
- 2014: In Vivo Award: British Association for Psychopharmacology, Cambridge.
- 2012: Rafaelsen Investigator Award: The International College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Stockholm.
- 2010: Fellowship Award: European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Amsterdam.
- 2008: Eli Lilly (Industry) Fellowship Award: presented at the British Association for Psychopharmacology, Oxford.
Websites/blogs
Neuroscience of Reward GroupPublications
- McCabe, C. , Keast, K. , Kaya, S. (2022) Barriers and facilitators to university access in disadvantaged UK adolescents by ethnicity: a qualitative study. Journal of Further and Higher Education ISSN: 0309-877X
- Watson, R. , McCabe, C. , Harvey, K. , Reynolds, S. (2021) Development and validation of a new adolescent self-report scale to measure loss of interest and pleasure: the anhedonia scale for adolescents (ASA). Psychological Assessment , 33 (3). pp. 201-217. ISSN: 1939-134X | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pas0000977
- Watson, R. , Harvey, K. , Pass, L. , McCabe, C. , Reynolds, S. (2021) A qualitative study exploring adolescents’ experience of brief behavioural activation for depression and its impact on the symptom of anhedonia. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice , 94 (2). pp. 266-288. ISSN: 2044-8341 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/papt.12307
- Frey, A. and McCabe, C. (2020) Effects of serotonin and dopamine depletion on neural prediction computations during social learning. Neuropsychopharmacology , 45 (9). pp. 1431-1437. ISSN: 0893-133X | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41386-020-0678-z
- Frey, A. and McCabe, C. (2020) Impaired social learning predicts reduced real-life motivation in individuals with depression: a computational fMRI study. Journal of Affective Disorders , 263 pp. 698-706. ISSN: 0165-0327 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.11.049
- Watson, R. , Harvey, K. , McCabe, C. , Reynolds, S. (2020) Understanding anhedonia: a qualitative study exploring loss of interest and pleasure in adolescent depression. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry , 29 (4). pp. 489-499. ISSN: 1435-165X | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00787-019-01364-y
- Frey, A. , Frank, M. , McCabe, C. (2019) Social reinforcement learning as a predictor of real-life experiences in individuals with high and low depressive symptomatology. Psychological Medicine pp. 1-8. ISSN: 1469-8978 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0033291719003222
- Rzepa, E. and McCabe, C. (2019) Dimensional anhedonia and the adolescent brain: reward and aversion anticipation, effort and consummation. British Journal of Psychiatry , 5 (6). ISSN: 0007-1250 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2019.68
- Kaya, S. and McCabe, C. (2019) Can understanding reward help illuminate anhedonia?. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports , 6 pp. 236-242. ISSN: 2196-2979 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40473-019-00186-1
- Kaya, S. and McCabe, C. (2019) What role does the prefrontal cortex play in the processing of negative and positive stimuli in adolescent depression?. Brain Sciences , 9 (5). ISSN: 2076-3425 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci9050104
- Rzepa, E. and McCabe, C. (2018) Anhedonia and depression severity dissociated by dmPFC resting-state functional connectivity in adolescents. Journal of Psychopharmacology , 32 (10). pp. 1067-1074. ISSN: 1461-7285 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881118799935
- McCabe, C. (2018) Linking anhedonia symptoms with behavioural and neural reward responses in adolescent depression. Current opinion in behavioural sciences , 22 pp. 143-151. ISSN: 2352-1546 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.07.001
- Rzepa, E. , Dean, Z. , McCabe, C. (2017) Bupropion administration increases resting-state functional connectivity in dorso-medial prefrontal cortex. The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology , 20 (6). pp. 455-462. ISSN: 1469-5111 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyx016
- Rzepa, E. , Fisk, J. , McCabe, C. (2017) Blunted neural response to anticipation, effort and consummation of reward and aversion in adolescents with depression symptomatology. Journal of Psychopharmacology , 31 (3). pp. 303-311. ISSN: 1461-7285 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881116681416
- McCabe, C. and Rocha-Rego, V. (2016) Investigating the predictive value of functional MRI to appetitive and aversive stimuli: a pattern classification approach. PLoS ONE , 11 (11). ISSN: 1932-6203 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0165295
- Setterfield, M. , Walsh, M. , Frey, A. , McCabe, C. (2016) Increased social anhedonia and reduced helping behaviour in young people with high depressive symptomatology. Journal of Affective Disorders , 205 pp. 372-377. ISSN: 0165-0327 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.08.020
- Rzepa, E. and McCabe, C. (2016) Decreased anticipated pleasure correlates with increased salience network resting state functional connectivity in adolescents with depressive symptomatology. Journal of Psychiatric Research , 82 pp. 40-47. ISSN: 0022-3956 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2016.07.013
- Horndasch, S. , Okeefe, S. , Lamond, A. , Brown, K. , McCabe, C. (2016) Increased anticipatory but decreased consummatory brain responses to food in sisters of Anorexia Nervosa patients. British Journal of Psychiatry Open , 2 (4). pp. 255-261. ISSN: 2056-4724 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjpo.bp.115.002550
- McCabe, C. (2016) Neural signals of “intensity” but not “wanting” or “liking” of rewards may be trait markers for depression. Journal of Psychopharmacology , 30 (10). pp. 1020-1027. ISSN: 1461-7285 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881116653079
- Dean, Z. , Horndasch, S. , Giannopoulos, P. , McCabe, C. (2016) Enhanced neural response to anticipation, effort and consummation of reward and aversion during Bupropion treatment. Psychological Medicine , 46 (11). pp. 2263-2274. ISSN: 1469-8978 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S003329171600088X
- Rzepa, E. , Tudge, L. , McCabe, C. (2016) Resting-state functional connectivity following a single dose treatment with CB1 neutral antagonist tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCv) in healthy volunteers. The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology , 19 (2). ISSN: 1469-5111 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyv092
- Frey, A. , Malinowska, L. , Harley, K. , Salhi, L. , Sharma, S. , McCabe, C. (2015) Investigating subtypes of reward processing deficits as trait markers for depression. Translational Developmental Psychiatry , 3 ISSN: 2001-7022 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3402/tdp.v3.27517
- Williams, C. , Whalley, B. , McCabe, C. (2015) Cannabinoids & appetite (dys)regulation (obesity). In: Fattore, L. , (eds.) Cannabinoids in Neurologic and Mental Disease. Academic Press pp. 315-342. ISBN: 9780124170414
- Thomas, J. , Higgs, S. , Dourish, C. , Hansen, P. , Harmer, C. , McCabe, C. (2015) Satiation attenuates BOLD activity in brain regions involved in reward and increases activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex: an fMRI study in healthy volunteers. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition , 101 (4). pp. 697-704. ISSN: 0002-9165 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.114.097543
- Tudge, L. , Williams, C. , Cowen, P. , McCabe, C. (2015) Neural effects of cannabinoid CB1 neutral antagonist tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCv) on food reward and aversion in healthy volunteers. The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology , 18 (6). ISSN: 1469-5111 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyu094
- McCabe, C. (2014) Neural correlates of anhedonia as a trait marker for depression. In: Ritsner, M. , (eds.) Anhedonia: A Comprehensive Handbook Volume II. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht pp. 159-174. ISBN: 9787401768096
- Cowdrey, F. , Filippini, N. , Park, R. , Smith, S. , McCabe, C. (2014) Increased resting state functional connectivity in the default mode network in recovered anorexia nervosa.. Human Brain Mapping , 35 (2). pp. 483-491. ISSN: 1065-9471 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22202
- Murray, E. , Brouwer, S. , McCutcheon, R. , Harmer, C. , Cowen, P. , McCabe, C. (2014) Opposing neural effects of naltrexone on food reward and aversion: implications for the treatment of obesity. Psychopharmacology , 231 (22). pp. 4323-4335. ISSN: 0033-3158 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-014-3573-7
- McCabe, C. (2013) Reward, rest, and antidepressant drug action. Translational Developmental Psychiatry , 1 ISSN: 2001-7022
- Pringle, A. , McCabe, C. , Cowen, P. , Harmer, C. (2013) Antidepressant treatment and emotional processing: can we dissociate the roles of serotonin and noradrenaline?. Journal of Psychopharmacology , 27 (8). pp. 719-731. ISSN: 1461-7285 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881112474523
- McCabe, C. , Harwood, J. , Brouwer, S. , Harmer, C. , Cowen, P. (2013) Effects of pramipexole on the processing of rewarding and aversive taste stimuli. Psychopharmacology , 228 (2). pp. 283-290. ISSN: 0033-3158 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-013-3033-9
- Cowdrey, F. , Park, R. , Harmer, C. , McCabe, C. (2012) Reply to: punishing food: what brain activity can tell us about the representation of food in recovered anorexia nervosa. Biological Psychiatry , 71 (8). ISSN: 0006-3223 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.11.008
- Cowdrey, F. , Harmer, C. , Park, R. , McCabe, C. (2012) Neural responses to emotional faces in women recovered from anorexia nervosa. Psychiatry Research , 201 (3). pp. 190-195. ISSN: 0165-1781 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pscychresns.2011.08.009
- McCabe, C. , Woffindale, C. , Harmer, C. , Cowen, P. (2012) Neural processing of reward and punishment in young people at increased familial risk of depression. Biological Psychiatry , 72 (7). pp. 588-594. ISSN: 0006-3223 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2012.04.034
- Bilderbeck, A. , McCabe, C. , Wakeley, J. , McGlone, F. , Harris, T. , Cowen, P. , Rogers, R. (2011) Serotonergic activity influences the cognitive appraisal of close intimate relationships in healthy adults. Biological Psychiatry , 69 (8). pp. 720-725. ISSN: 0006-3223 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.12.038
- McCabe, C. , Huber, A. , Harmer, C. , Cowen, P. (2011) The D2 antagonist sulpiride modulates the neural processing of both rewarding and aversive stimuli in healthy volunteers.. Psychopharmacology , 217 (2). pp. 271-278. ISSN: 0033-3158 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-011-2278-4
- McCabe, C. and Mishor, Z. (2011) Antidepressant medications reduce subcortical-cortical resting-state functional connectivity in healthy volunteers. NeuroImage , 57 (4). pp. 1317-1323. ISSN: 1053-8119 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.051
- McCabe, C. , Mishor, Z. , Filippini, N. , Cowen, P. , Taylor, M. , Harmer, C. (2011) SSRI administration reduces resting state functional connectivity in dorso-medial prefrontal cortex. Molecular Psychiatry , 16 (6). pp. 592-594. ISSN: 1476-5578 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/mp.2010.138
- Cowdrey, F. , Park, R. , Harmer, C. , McCabe, C. (2011) Increased neural processing of rewarding and aversive food stimuli in recovered anorexia nervosa. Biological Psychiatry , 70 (8). pp. 736-743. ISSN: 0006-3223 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.05.028
- Horder, J. , Harmer, C. , Cowen, P. , McCabe, C. (2010) Reduced neural response to reward following 7 days treatment with the cannabinoid CB1 antagonist rimonabant in healthy volunteers. The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology , 13 (8). pp. 1103-1113. ISSN: 1469-5111 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1461145710000453
- McCabe, C. , Mishor, Z. , Cowen, P. , Harmer, C. (2010) Diminished neural processing of aversive and rewarding stimuli during selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment. Biological Psychiatry , 67 (5). pp. 439-445. ISSN: 0006-3223 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.11.001
- McCabe, C. , Cowen, P. , Harmer, C. (2009) Neural representation of reward in recovered depressed patients. Psychopharmacology , 205 (4). pp. 667-677. ISSN: 0033-3158 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-009-1573-9
- McCabe, C. , Cowen, P. , Harmer, C. (2009) NK1 receptor antagonism and the neural processing of emotional information in healthy volunteers. The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology , 12 (9). pp. 1261-1274. ISSN: 1469-5111 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1461145709990150
- Rolls, E. , McCabe, C. , Redoute, J. (2008) Expected value, reward outcome, and temporal difference error representations in a probabilistic decision task. Cerebral Cortex , 18 (3). pp. 652-663. ISSN: 1460-2199 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhm097
- McCabe, C. , Rolls, E. , Bilderbeck, A. , McGlone, F. (2008) Cognitive influences on the affective representation of touch and the sight of touch in the human brain. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience , 3 (2). pp. 97-108. ISSN: 1749-5024 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsn005
- Grabenhorst, G. , Rolls, E. , McCabe, C. , Bilderbeck, A. (2007) In linking affect to action: critical contributions of the orbitofrontal cortex.
- McCabe, C. and Rolls, E. (2007) Umami: a delicious flavor formed by convergence of taste and olfactory pathways in the human brain. The European Journal of Neuroscience , 25 (6). pp. 1855-1864. ISSN: 0953-816X | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05445.x
- Rolls, E. and McCabe, C. (2007) Enhanced affective brain representations of chocolate in cravers vs. non-cravers. The European Journal of Neuroscience , 26 (4). pp. 1067-1076. ISSN: 0953-816X | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05724.x
- McCabe, C. , Rolls, E. , Redoute, J. (2006) Expected utility and reward value representations in a probabilistic decision task. Journal of Psychophysiology , 20 (4). ISSN: 2151-2124
- Czoty, P. , McCabe, C. , Nader, M. (2005) Assessment of the relative reinforcing strength of cocaine in socially housed monkeys using a choice procedure.. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics , 312 (1). pp. 96-102. ISSN: 0022-3565 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1124/jpet.104.073411
- Czoty, P. , McCabe, C. , Nader, M. (2005) Effects of the 5-HT(1A) agonist (+/-)-8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) on cocaine choice in cynomolgus monkeys. Behavioural Pharmacology , 16 (3). pp. 187-191. ISSN: 0955-8810
- McCabe, C. , Shaw, D. , Atack, J. , Street, L. , Wafford, K. , Dawson, G. , Reynolds, D. , Leslie, J. (2004) Subtype-selective GABAergic drugs facilitate extinction of mouse operant behaviour. Neuropharmacology , 46 (2). pp. 171-178. ISSN: 0028-3908 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2003.09.004
- Shaw, D. , Dawson, G. , Reynolds, D. , McCabe, C. , Leslie, J. (2004) Effects of chlordiazepoxide on extinction and re-acquisition of operant behaviour in mice. Behavioural Pharmacology , 15 (3). pp. 225-232. ISSN: 0955-8810
- Leslie, J. , Shaw, D. , McCabe, C. , Reynolds, D. , Dawson, G. (2004) Effects of drugs that potentiate GABA on extinction of positively-reinforced operant behaviour. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews , 28 (3). pp. 229-238. ISSN: 0149-7634 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.01.003