Contact information
Michael Browning
Clinical Post Doctoral Researcher
My current research focuses on the role of learning abnormalities in the aetiology of anxiety.
Anxiety disorders are among the most common of the psychiatric illness. While there has been significant recent advances in understanding the neural systems involved in producing symptoms of anxiety in response to stressful circumstances, it is less clear why, when exposed to the same stress, some people will become anxious while others will not. The overall goal of my research is to better understand the mechanisms which lead to this vulnerability -- the importance of this research is that an understanding of these underlying mechanisms is an essential first step in the development of novel, evidence based treatments for anxiety.
My work uses computational models of learning, developed to explain how people learn about rewards in their environment, and asks whether similar processes can explain the difficulties in learning seen in people with anxiety.
Key publications
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Effects of 7 days of treatment with the cannabinoid type 1 receptor antagonist, rimonabant, on emotional processing.
Journal article
Horder J. et al, (2012), J Psychopharmacol, 26, 125 - 132
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Effects of low dose tryptophan depletion on emotional processing in dieters.
Journal article
Pringle A. et al, (2012), Eat Behav, 13, 154 - 157
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Social inference and social anxiety: evidence of a fear-congruent self-referential learning bias.
Journal article
Button KS. et al, (2012), J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry, 43, 1082 - 1087
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Expectancy and surprise predict neural and behavioral measures of attention to threatening stimuli.
Journal article
Browning M. and Harmer CJ., (2012), Neuroimage, 59, 1942 - 1948
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The use of cognitive bias modification and imagery in the understanding and treatment of depression.
Journal article
Browning M. et al, (2013), Curr Top Behav Neurosci, 14, 243 - 260
Recent publications
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Cognitive Remediation in Bipolar (CRiB2): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial assessing efficacy and mechanisms of cognitive remediation therapy compared to treatment as usual
Conference paper
Tsapekos D. et al, (2023), BMC Psychiatry, 23
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Pramipexole for the Treatment of Depression: Efficacy and Mechanisms.
Journal article
Halahakoon DC. and Browning M., (2023), Curr Top Behav Neurosci
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Adaptive learning from outcome contingencies in eating-disorder risk groups.
Journal article
Pike AC. et al, (2023), Transl Psychiatry, 13
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Depression is associated with reduced outcome sensitivity in a dual valence, magnitude learning task.
Journal article
Pulcu E. et al, (2023), Psychol Med, 1 - 6
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Effects of ulotaront on brain circuits of reward, working memory, and emotion processing in healthy volunteers with high or low schizotypy.
Journal article
Perini F. et al, (2023), Schizophrenia (Heidelb), 9