Centre for Clinical, Social and Cognitive Neuroscience

The Clinical, Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Centre is dedicated to advancing the understanding of human health and behaviour through both foundational research on neural and cognitive mechanisms, and applied research developed in close collaboration with stakeholder communities and research partners.

Our ambition is to improve the wellbeing and quality of life of patient populations, neurodiverse communities, and the general public by informing evidence-based practice in healthcare, education and employment.

We work across multiple disciplines and our research ranges from basic and experimental to highly applied, with the overarching aim to increase knowledge about the mechanisms that underpin a wide range of human experience.

Our research is:

• Basic:
  • understanding the fundamental neural and cognitive mechanisms that underpin individual differences in cognition (e.g., perception, attention, memory, decision making, somatosensory processing, emotion and face recognition) and their link to social behaviour, personal wellbeing and quality of life.
  • understanding developmental changes in these mechanisms across the life span.
  • developing mathematical and computational models of these mechanisms in psychology and cognitive neuroscience.
• Applied:
  • understanding the differences in neural and cognitive mechanisms that underpin psychiatric, neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders, such as schizophrenia, autism, Williams syndrome and Prosopagnosia and in individuals who experience other forms of psychological distress or neurodivergence.
  • translating ‘basic’ research findings into practice through close collaboration with stakeholder communities and combining different theoretical and methodological approaches. For example, informing mindfulness-based therapy by uncovering the relevant neuro-cognitive mechanisms of action; shaping legal processes by understanding the operation of memory in the context of the criminal justice system; supporting patient populations and neurodiverse communities in healthcare, education and employment by shedding light on the mechanisms underpinning barriers to wellbeing and quality of life.

Our members use a wide range of quantitative research methods, including neuropsychology and experimental psychology, experience sampling, neuroeconomics, psychophysics, structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), eye-tracking, psychophysiology, computational modelling and machine learning, often complemented by qualitative methods, such as thematic analysis and grounded theory, to gain insight into lived experiences. We also collaborate closely with stakeholder communities through PPI groups and our close connections with our research partners.

Focused research on the underlying mechanisms of neural, cognitive and social processes is necessary t guide innovative and effective evidence-based solutions and interventions that address real-life challenges. Our Centre ultimately aims to bring benefits to the wider society and serves the general population and users of clinical services, for example, by improving our understanding, general provision and treatments that affect the functionality and wellbeing of individuals with lived experience of poor mental health.

We collaborate with academic partners in leading universities in the UK and internationally, charities (e.g., Mind, Autistica) and NHS Trusts.

Our CCSCN experts lead a unique MSc in Cognitive, Social and Clinical Neuroscience and teach relevant modules in the BSc in Psychology.