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Laurel Morris

Contact information

Email
laurel.morris@ndcn.ox.ac.uk

Research groups

NeuroSCOPE Lab

Laurel S. Morris

PhD

Prof. Morris is an Associate Professor in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Experimental Psychology. She is a cognitive neuroscientist who specializes in the development of cognitive and digital measures of motivation, self-agency, and reward and punishment processing. Prof. Morris also specializes in optimizing high-resolution multi-modal neuroimaging techniques for precision imaging and in the application biofeedback-based interventions for psychiatric symptom management. Her work applies these measures and tools to better understand depression, anxiety and addiction.

Prof. Morris is open to accepting new students.

Key publications

Effects of KCNQ potassium channel modulation on ventral tegmental area activity and connectivity in individuals with depression and anhedonia

Morris LS. et al, (2025), Molecular Psychiatry, 30, 3686 - 3694

Cross-species dissection of the modular role of the ventral tegmental area in depressive disorders

Morris LS. et al, (2025), Neuroscience, 569, 248 - 266

Ketamine normalizes subgenual cingulate cortex hyper-activity in depression

Morris LS. et al, (2020), Neuropsychopharmacology, 45, 975 - 981

Fronto-striatal organization: Defining functional and microstructural substrates of behavioural flexibility

Morris LS. et al, (2016), Cortex, 74, 118 - 133

Recent publications

Effects of the KCNQ (Kv7) Channel Opener Ezogabine on Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Striatal Brain Reward Regions, Depression, and Anhedonia in Major Depressive Disorder: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Chowdhury A. et al, (2025), Biol Psychiatry, 98, 568 - 577

A Randomized, Controlled Trial of the Novel, Potent Kv7 Channel Opener Azetukalner in Individuals with Major Depressive Disorder and Anhedonia: Neural Response to Reward, Clinical Outcomes, and Safety.

Murrough J. et al, (2025), Res Sq

VTA network dominance in depression confers distinct psychopathological states through blunted neural tracking of reward prediction errors

Morris L. et al, (2025)

Spatiotemporal asymmetries on brain energy landscape uncover system entrapment related to depression severity

Kilic Ü. et al, (2025)

Effects of KCNQ potassium channel modulation on ventral tegmental area activity and connectivity in individuals with depression and anhedonia

Morris LS. et al, (2025), Molecular Psychiatry, 30, 3686 - 3694

Cross-species dissection of the modular role of the ventral tegmental area in depressive disorders

Morris LS. et al, (2025), Neuroscience, 569, 248 - 266

Intrinsic and extrinsic control impact motivation and outcome sensitivity: the role of anhedonia, stress, and anxiety

Mehta MM. et al, (2024), Psychological Medicine, 54, 4575 - 4584

Relationships between depression, anxiety, and motivation in the real-world: Effects of physical activity and screentime.

Beltrán J. et al, (2024), medRxiv

Reward-related self-agency is disturbed in depression and anxiety

Mehta MM. et al, (2023), PLOS ONE, 18, e0282727 - e0282727

Valence-dependent self-agency is disturbed in depression and anxiety

Mehta MM. et al, (2022)

On what motivates us: a detailed review of intrinsicv.extrinsic motivation

Morris LS. et al, (2022), Psychological Medicine, 52, 1801 - 1816

Altered hippocampus and amygdala subregion connectome hierarchy in major depressive disorder

Jacob Y. et al, (2022), Translational Psychiatry, 12

Intrasubject functional connectivity related to self‐generated thoughts

Brennan D. et al, (2021), Brain and Behavior, 11

Addictions NeuroImaging Assessment (ANIA): Towards an integrative framework for alcohol use disorder

Voon V. et al, (2020), Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 113, 492 - 506

Effects of the KCNQ channel opener ezogabine on functional connectivity of the ventral striatum and clinical symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder

Tan A. et al, (2020), Molecular Psychiatry, 25, 1323 - 1333

Dissociating self-generated volition from externally-generated motivation

Morris LS. et al, (2020), PLOS ONE, 15, e0232949 - e0232949

Ketamine normalizes subgenual cingulate cortex hyper-activity in depression

Morris LS. et al, (2020), Neuropsychopharmacology, 45, 975 - 981

Sub-millimeter variation in human locus coeruleus is associated with dimensional measures of psychopathology: An in vivo ultra-high field 7-Tesla MRI study

Morris LS. et al, (2020), NeuroImage: Clinical, 25, 102148 - 102148

The role of the locus coeruleus in the generation of pathological anxiety

Morris LS. et al, (2020), Brain and Neuroscience Advances, 4, 239821282093032 - 239821282093032

Neural correlates of rumination in major depressive disorder: A brain network analysis

Jacob Y. et al, (2020), NeuroImage: Clinical, 25, 102142 - 102142

Modulation of Resting Connectivity Between the Mesial Frontal Cortex and Basal Ganglia

Popa T. et al, (2019), Frontiers in Neurology, 10

Ultra-high field MRI reveals mood-related circuit disturbances in depression: a comparison between 3-Tesla and 7-Tesla

Morris LS. et al, (2019), Translational Psychiatry, 9

Stress, Motivation, and the Gut–Brain Axis: A Focus on the Ghrelin System and Alcohol Use Disorder

Morris LS. et al, (2018), Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 42, 1378 - 1389

Anterior cingulate cortex connectivity is associated with suppression of behaviour in a rat model of chronic pain

Morris LS. et al, (2018), Brain and Neuroscience Advances, 2

Binge drinking differentially affects cortical and subcortical microstructure

Morris LS. et al, (2018), Addiction Biology, 23, 403 - 411

Naltrexone ameliorates functional network abnormalities in alcohol‐dependent individuals

Morris LS. et al, (2018), Addiction Biology, 23, 425 - 436

Impaired awareness of motor intention in functional neurological disorder: implications for voluntary and functional movement

Baek K. et al, (2017), Psychological Medicine, 47, 1624 - 1636

Disrupted resting-state brain network properties in obesity: decreased global and putaminal cortico-striatal network efficiency

Baek K. et al, (2017), Psychological Medicine, 47, 585 - 596

Compulsive sexual behavior: Prefrontal and limbic volume and interactions

Schmidt C. et al, (2017), Human Brain Mapping, 38, 1182 - 1190

Distinct cortico-striatal connections with subthalamic nucleus underlie facets of compulsivity

Morris LS. et al, (2017), Cortex, 88, 143 - 150

Decisional impulsivity and the associative-limbic subthalamic nucleus in obsessive-compulsive disorder: stimulation and connectivity

Voon V. et al, (2017), Brain, 140, 442 - 456

Amygdala and dlPFC abnormalities, with aberrant connectivity and habituation in response to emotional stimuli in females with BPD

Dudas RB. et al, (2017), Journal of Affective Disorders, 208, 460 - 466

Disrupted avoidance learning in functional neurological disorder: Implications for harm avoidance theories

Morris LS. et al, (2017), NeuroImage: Clinical, 16, 286 - 294

Dimensionality of Cognitions in Behavioral Addiction

Morris LS. and Voon V., (2016), Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports, 3, 49 - 57

Biases in the Explore–Exploit Tradeoff in Addictions: The Role of Avoidance of Uncertainty

Morris LS. et al, (2016), Neuropsychopharmacology, 41, 940 - 948

Jumping the Gun: Mapping Neural Correlates of Waiting Impulsivity and Relevance Across Alcohol Misuse

Morris LS. et al, (2016), Biological Psychiatry, 79, 499 - 507

Waiting Impulsivity: The Influence of Acute Methylphenidate and Feedback

Voon V. et al, (2016), International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 19, pyv074 - pyv074

Novelty, conditioning and attentional bias to sexual rewards

Banca P. et al, (2016), Journal of Psychiatric Research, 72, 91 - 101

Fronto-striatal organization: Defining functional and microstructural substrates of behavioural flexibility

Morris LS. et al, (2016), Cortex, 74, 118 - 133

Motivation and value influences in the relative balance of goal-directed and habitual behaviours in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Voon V. et al, (2015), Translational Psychiatry, 5, e670 - e670

Risk-Taking in Disorders of Natural and Drug Rewards: Neural Correlates and Effects of Probability, Valence, and Magnitude

Voon V. et al, (2015), Neuropsychopharmacology, 40, 804 - 812

Neural Correlates of Sexual Cue Reactivity in Individuals with and without Compulsive Sexual Behaviours

Voon V. et al, (2014), PLoS ONE, 9, e102419 - e102419

Hippocampus

Vago DR. et al, (2014), 566 - 570

Dissociable Influences of Skewness and Valence on Economic Choice and Neural Activity

Wright ND. et al, (2013), PLoS ONE, 8, e83454 - e83454

Manipulating the contribution of approach-avoidance to the perturbation of economic choice by valence

Wright ND. et al, (2013), Frontiers in Neuroscience, 7

More publications