Dr Susannah Murphy
Dr Susannah Murphy
Supernumerary Teaching Fellow in Psychology
Email: Dr Susannah Murphy
Teaching Interests
I joined St John's in October 2008 as a Supernumerary Teaching Fellow in Psychology. I give tutorials to Experimental Psychology (EP) and Psychology and Philosophy (PP) students. For prelims (first years), I currently teach perception, psychobiology and cognitive psychology. For Part I (second years), I teach on a number of courses, including Behavioural Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Psychological Disorders. I am on sabbatical during the 2012-2013 academic year and will not be teaching during this time.
Research Interests
My research centres around integrating psychological and neurophysiological accounts of psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety. More specifically, I use a range of neuroimaging techniques (such as fMRI and MEG) to examine the way in which the brain processes emotional information and how this might be altered in these disorders. I am currently investigating the effect of imagery-based cognitive bias modification in older adults on cognitive function and the neural processing of emotion.
Other Information
I completed my D.Phil. and MSc. in Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, which was funded by a Wellcome Trust Four Year Neuroscience Studentship (2003-2007). Before then, I completed my undergraduate degree (MA in Psychology) at the University of St Andrews. I have also had experience of working in a range of clinical settings as an Assistant Clinical Psychologist and an Auxiliary Psychiatric nurse.
Publications
- Murphy SE & Mackay CE (2010) Using MRI to measure drug action: caveats and new directions. Journal of Psychopharmacology
- Murphy SE (2010) Using Functional neuroimaging to investigate the mechanisms of action of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs). Current Pharmaceutical Design
- Browning M, Holmes EA, Murphy SE, Goodwin GM, Harmer CJ. (2010) Lateral prefrontal cortex mediates the cognitive modification of attentional bias. Biological Psychiatry
- Murphy, SE; Yiend, J; Lester, K; Cowen, PJ & Harmer, CJ (2009) Short-term serotonergic but not noradrenergic antidepressant administration reduces attentional vigilance to threat in healthy volunteers. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology 12(2): 169-79
- Murphy, SE; Norbury, N; O’Sullivan, U; Cowen, PJ & Harmer, CJ (2009) Reduced amygdala response to threat within three hours of administration in healthy volunteers. British Journal of Psychiatry 194: 535-540
- Murphy, SE; Longhitano, C; Ayres, RE; Cowen, PJ; Harmer, CJ & Rogers, R (2009) The role of serotonin in non-normative risky choice: the effects of tryptophan supplements on loss-aversion in healthy adult volunteers. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 21(9):1709-19
- Taylor MJ, Norbury R, Murphy S, Rudebeck S, Jezzard P, Cowen PJ. (2009) Lack of effect of citalopram on magnetic resonance spectroscopy measures of glutamate and glutamine in frontal cortex of healthy volunteers. Journal of Psychopharmacology 24(8):1217-21
