Research groups
Ben Seymour
BSc MB ChB PhD MRCP FRSA
Professor of Clinical Neuroscience
- Wellcome Senior Fellow
- Consultant Neurologist
- Turing Fellow
Pain and aversive learning, with a focus on computational neuroscience and neurotechnology
Pain and aversive learning
My lab addresses the computational and systems neuroscience of pain. This research is part theoretical: building realistic models of neuronal information processes to understand processes of pain perception and behaviour, and part experimental: testing these theories using a range of experimental methodologies, especially fMRI. My research aims to develop new technology-based therapies for treating pain in clinical populations.
I am a Wellcome Senior Clinical Fellow at Oxford University, working jointly at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging and the Oxford Institute for Biomedical Engineering; and a visiting researcher at ATR labs (Kyoto). I am a Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute with an interest in safe AI control systems. I am also an honorary consultant neurologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust with an interest in behavioural homeostasis and sleep, pain and fatigue neurology.
Key publications
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Computational and neural mechanisms of statistical pain learning.
Journal article
Mancini F. et al, (2022), Nat Commun, 13
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Pain Control by Co-adaptive Learning in a Brain-Machine Interface
Journal article
Zhang S. et al, (2020), Current Biology, 30, 3935 - 3944.e7
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Pain: A Precision Signal for Reinforcement Learning and Control.
Journal article
Seymour B., (2019), Neuron, 101, 1029 - 1041
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The control of tonic pain by active relief learning
Journal article
Zhang S. et al, (2017)
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Fear reduction without fear through reinforcement of neural activity that bypasses conscious exposure
Journal article
Koizumi A. et al, (2016), Nature Human Behaviour, 1
Recent publications
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Statistical learning shapes pain perception and prediction independently of external cues.
Journal article
Onysk J. et al, (2024), Elife, 12
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Enhanced behavioural and neural sensitivity to punishments in chronic pain and fatigue
Preprint
Mancini F. et al, (2024)
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Balancing safety and efficiency in human decision making
Preprint
Mahajan P. et al, (2024)
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Improving sleep and learning in rehabilitation after stroke, part 2 (INSPIRES2): study protocol for a home-based randomised control trial of digital cognitive behavioural therapy (dCBT) for insomnia
Journal article
Weightman M. et al, (2023), BMJ Open, 13, e071764 - e071764
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Evidence for dopaminergic involvement in endogenous modulation of pain relief.
Journal article
Desch S. et al, (2023), Elife, 12