Ciara McCabe

Email:
c.mccabe@reading.ac.uk
Phone:
+44 (0) 118 378 5450
Job title:
Professor of Neuroscience, Psychopharmacology and Mental Health & University Research Fellow

Responsibilities:

Director of Neuroimaging of Reward Group (NRG).
Director of Reading Scholars Programme in Psychology, University of Reading.
Associate Editor, Frontiers in Psychiatry, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Section.
University Research Fellow

Areas of interest

Professor Ciara McCabe examines the human reward experience using behavioural techniques and brain imaging.

Professor McCabe did her PhD with Prof Leslie on the effects of anti-anxiety drugs in animal models in the Psychology Department at the University of Ulster.

She did her first post doc with Prof Nader in primate models of drug addiction in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Wake Forest University, NC, USA.

She did a second post-doc with Prof Rolls on the human reward response using neuroimaging in the Department of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University.

She then worked as a research fellow with Prof Harmer and Prof Cowan on the human reward response in psychiatric disorders, using neuroimaging and psychopharmacological challenges, in the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University.

Combining her experience, she now leads the Neuroscience of Reward Group (NRG) at the University of Reading. Using neuroscience approaches NRG examines how reward processing is related to adolescent mental health symptoms and their treatment.

Collaborating with Industry, NRG also uses neuro-cognitive approaches to enhance our understanding of human behaviour in relation to the rewarding and sensory components of food and drinks.

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

2022: Finalist in the Research Engagement and Impact Awards, University of Reading
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 Group

Public Communication Examples

Publications

Frey, A. , Kaya, M. , Adeniyi, I. , McCabe, C. (2023) Anhedonia in relation to reward and effort learning in young people with depression symptoms. Brain Sciences , 13 (2). ISSN: 2076-3425 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13020341

Kaya, M. and McCabe, C. (2022) Effects of COVID-19 on adolescent mental health and internet use by ethnicity and gender: a mixed–method study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health , 19 (15). ISSN: 1660-4601 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19158927
McCabe, C. , Keast, K. , Kaya, M. (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 | doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2022.2086037

Keast, K. , McCabe, C. , Bull, N. (2021) Pioneers: barriers & facilitators to University entry by ethnicity. StudyHigher.ac.uk
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

Ciara McCabe

Areas of interest

Postgraduate supervision

Teaching

Research projects

Academic qualifications

Awards and honours

Websites/blogs

Public Communication Examples

Publications

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