Dr Sharon Morein-Zamir

Sharon’s research aims to better characterise how individuals control their behaviour and mental processes, and how difficulties with such control can contribute to mental health conditions.

[email protected]

www.moreinlab.com

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Background

Sharon has examined the control of actions and attention in healthy individuals and in clinical groups characterised by control processes difficulties, such as individuals with increased compulsivity (e.g., with OCD or hoarding disorder) or impulsivity (e.g. in ADHD or stimulant drug users).

She investigates behavioural mechanisms and neural correlates related to control and attention across numerous behavioural paradigms, effector systems, and taking a transdiagnostic approach across different patient groups. By integrating approaches from experimental psychology, psychiatry and cognitive neuroscience she aims to advance knowledge and understanding of the human experience and mental health conditions.

Sharon is the co-director of the ARU Centre for Mind and Behaviour and the School Research Integrity Lead, as well as a member of the School Research Ethics Panel.

Research interests

• Coping with uncertainty and certainty seeking behaviours and how these are influenced by state variables such as stress
• Compulsive behaviour
• Impulsivity
• Cognitive control and executive functioning – control of thoughts, attention and behaviour including response inhibition and cognitive flexibility

Areas of research supervision

Sharon welcomes enquiries from prospective research students in the areas of her research interests which include:
Coping with uncertainty
Investigating compulsive and impulsive behaviour
Emotion, motivation and executive functioning
Hoarding (physical and digital)

Teaching

Sharon is the course leader for the MSc Research Methods in Psychology, leads the MSc module Quantitative Research Methods, and co-leads the MSc module Issues in Scientific Research.

Sharon teaches on these modules as well as on the postgraduate modules Imaging and Diagnostics, Topics in Clinical Child Psychology and Current Theoretical Issues in Cognitive Neuroscience. At undergraduate level, she teaches on the modules Becoming a Researcher and Research in Action.

Qualifications

• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
• MA and PhD Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada
• BA and MA Cognitive Psychology, University of Ben-Gurion, Israel

Memberships, editorial boards

• Associate Editor, British Journal of Clinical Psychology
• Editorial Board, Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry

Selected recent publications

Morein-Zamir, S., Kasese, M., Chamberlain, SR., Trachtenberg, E. (2022), Elevated levels of hoarding in ADHD: a special link with inattention. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 145, 167-174. Details and Medarxiv copy

Zhukovsky, P, Morein-Zamir, S., Ziauddeen, H., Fernandez-Egea, E., ...Ersche, K.D. (2021) Prefrontal cortex activation and stopping performance underlie the beneficial effects of atomoxetine on response inhibition in healthy and cocaine use disorder volunteers. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. Details

Belcher, H., Morein-Zamir, S., Mandy, W., Ford, R. (2021) Camouflaging intent, first impressions, and age of ASC diagnosis in autistic men and women. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Details

Morein-Zamir, S., & Anholt, G. (2021). Stopping a Response When You Really Care about the Action: Considerations from a Clinical Perspective. Brain Sciences, 11(8), 979. Details

Carmi, L., Zohar, J., Arush, O. B., & Morein-Zamir, S. (2020). From checking the door to checking the app: assessment and treatment implications for obsessive–compulsive disorder in the digital era. CNS spectrums. Details

Zhukovsky, P., Morein‐Zamir, S., Meng, C., Dalley, J. W., Ersche, K. D., 2020. Network failures: When incentives trigger impulsive responses. Human Brain Mapping, 41, pp. 2216-28.

Carmi, L., Zohar, J., Arush, O. B.,, Morein-Zamir, S., 2020. From checking the door to checking the app: assessment and treatment implications for obsessive–compulsive disorder in the digital era. CNS Spectrums, June 30: 1-2.

Morein-Zamir, S., Shapher, S., Gasull-Camos, J., Fineberg, N. A., Robbins, T. W., 2020. Avoid jumping to conclusions under uncertainty in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. PLoS One, e0225970.

Morein-Zamir, S., Shahper, S., Fineberg, N. A., Eisele, V., Eagle, D. M., Urcelay, G., Robbins, T. W., 2018. Free operant observing in humans: a translational approach to compulsive certainty seeking. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70, pp. 2052-2069.

Media experience

Media spanning local, national and international outlets including radio (BBC Essex, 2018, 2019), printed and electronic media; appearing in articles in Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Times Higher Education, and The Globe and Mail (Canada).