Research

My research interests include instrumental and associative learning and memory processes, and neuropsychological measures of impulsivity such as delay discounting and probability discounting. The work I am conducting for my doctoral thesis has a specific focus on the role of the intracellular signalling molecule, dopamine and cyclic adenosine monophosphate-regulated phosphoprotein, 32 kDa (DARPP-32) in both aberrant and normative reward learning. DARPP-32's importance to motivated behaviours resides in its role as an integrator of neurotransmitter and neuropeptide signalling pathways converging on dopaminoceptive brain regions known to facilitate associative and reinforcement learning and impulsive choice tasks. Prior research has shown that DARPP-32 is essential for the generation of a host of post-synaptic events involved in the induction of synaptic plasticity. My aim is to advance the understanding of the role this molecule has in the development and maintenance of addictive behaviours.