Ciara McCabe

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.