Dr Matthew Apps BSc, MSc, PhD

Dr Matthew Apps

School of Psychology
Senior Research Fellow (≈Associate Professor) / BBSRC David Phillips Fellow

Dr. Apps is a leading expert in the computational, cognitive and neural basis of motivation and social behaviour. More info about the labs work can be found here: www.MSN-lab.com

Qualifications

BSc.(Hons.) Psychology,

MSc. Psychological Research Methods,

PhD. in Cognitive Neuroscience

Biography

Dr. Apps obtained a First-class BSc. in Psychology from Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL_, before receiving a ESRC 1+3 scholarship to complete an MSc (with Distinction) at Reading University and a PhD at RHUL, under the supervision of Prof. Narender Ramnani. He undertook postdoctoral positions first under the supervision of Prof. Manos Tsakiris at RHUL and then moving to the University of Oxford with Prof, Masud Husain. In 2015 Dr. Apps was awarded a BBSRC Future Leader Fellowship at the University of Oxford, and subsequently started the MSN lab on a 5-year ~£1.2m BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship in 2018. He joined the Centre for Human Brain Health, Institute of Mental Health and School of Psychology at University of Birmingham as a Senior Research Fellow (≈Associate Professor) in summer 2020. He is also a Senior Associate Research Fellow at Christ Church college, Oxford.

Postgraduate supervision

Dr. Apps is keen to hear from interested potential PhD students to discuss funding possibilities. Please send him a brief email with CV and reason for interest in the MSN lab.

Research

The Psychological and Biological basis of motivation, decision-making, cognitive control, and social cognition.

Other activities

Awards

o             University of Oxford Recognition of Excellence (2019)

o             Society for Social Neuroscience Early Career Award (2018)

o             Christ Church college Senior Associate Research Fellowship (2018-2023)

o             University Research Lecturer honorary title (2017)

o             European Society for Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (ESCAN) Young Scientist Award (2016)

o             Society for Neuroscience Professional Development Award (2016)

o             Fulford Junior Research Fellowship at Somerville College, Oxford (2014-2016)

o             OHBM Trainee Award  (2009 & 2015)

 

Responsibilities

o            Editorial Board member at Nature Publishing Group, Scientific Reports (2017 - present)

o             Board member for the Society for Social Neuroscience (2019 – present)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Contreras-Huerta, LS, Coll, M-P, Bird, G, Yu, H, Prosser, A, Lockwood, PL, Murphy, J, Crockett, MJ & Apps, MAJ 2023, 'Neural representations of vicarious rewards are linked to interoception and prosocial behaviour', NeuroImage, vol. 269, 119881. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.119881

Lockwood, P, Wittmann, MK, Nili, H, Matsumoto-Ryan, M, Abdurahman, A, Cutler, J, Husain, M & Apps, M 2022, 'Distinct neural representations for prosocial and self-benefiting effort', Current Biology, vol. 32, no. 19, pp. 4172-4209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.08.010

Scholey, E & Apps, MAJ 2022, 'Fatigue: Tough days at work change your prefrontal metabolites', Current Biology, vol. 32, no. 16, pp. R876-R879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.06.088

Yu, H, Contreras-Huerta, LS, Prosser, AMB, Apps, MAJ, Hofmann, W, Sinnott-Armstrong, W & Crockett, MJ 2022, 'Neural and Cognitive Signatures of Guilt Predict Hypocritical Blame', Psychological Science, vol. 33, no. 11, pp. 1909-1927. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976221122765

Pisauro, MA, Fouragnan, E, Arabadzhiyska, D, Apps, MAJ & Philiastides, MG 2022, 'Neural implementation of computational mechanisms underlying the continuous trade-off between cooperation and competition', Nature Communications, vol. 13, no. 1, 6873. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34509-w

Pavlović, T, Azevedo, F, De, K, Riaño-Moreno, JC, Maglić, M, Gkinopoulos, T, Donnelly-Kehoe, PA, Payán-Gómez, C, Huang, G, Kantorowicz, J, Birtel, MD, Schönegger, P, Capraro, V, Santamaría-García, H, Yucel, M, Ibanez, A, Rathje, S, Wetter, E, Stanojević, D, van Prooijen, J-W, Hesse, E, Elbaek, CT, Franc, R, Pavlović, Z, Mitkidis, P, Cichocka, A, Gelfand, M, Alfano, M, Ross, RM, Sjåstad, H, Nezlek, JB, Cislak, A, Lockwood, P, Abts, K, Agadullina, E, Amodio, DM, Apps, MAJ, Aruta, JJB, Besharati, S, Bor, A, Choma, B, Cunningham, W, Ejaz, W, Farmer, H, Findor, A, Gjoneska, B, Gualda, E, Huynh, TLD, Imran, MA, Israelashvili, J, Kantorowicz-Reznichenko, E, Krouwel, A, Kutiyski, Y, Laakasuo, M, Lamm, C, Levy, J, Leygue, C, Lin, M-J, Mansoor, MS, Marie, A, Mayiwar, L, Mazepus, H, McHugh, C, Olsson, A, Otterbring, T, Packer, D, Palomäki, J, Perry, A, Petersen, MB, Puthillam, A, Rothmund, T, Schmid, PC, Stadelmann, D, Stoica, A, Stoyanov, D, Stoyanova, K, Tewari, S, Todosijević, B, Torgler, B, Tsakiris, M, Tung, HH, Umbreș, RG, Vanags, E, Vlasceanu, M, Vonasch, AJ, Zhang, Y, Abad, M, Adler, E, Mdarhri, HA, Antazo, B, Ay, FC, Ba, MEH, Barbosa, S, Bastian, B, Berg, A, Białek, M, Bilancini, E, Bogatyreva, N, Boncinelli, L, Booth, JE, Borau, S, Buchel, O, de Carvalho, CF, Celadin, T, Cerami, C, Chalise, HN, Cheng, X, Cian, L, Cockcroft, K, Conway, J, Córdoba-Delgado, MA, Crespi, C, Crouzevialle, M, Cutler, J, Cypryańska, M, Dabrowska, J, Davis, VH, Minda, JP, Dayley, PN, Delouvée, S, Denkovski, O, Dezecache, G, Dhaliwal, NA, Diato, A, Di Paolo, R, Dulleck, U, Ekmanis, J, Etienne, TW, Farhana, HH, Farkhari, F, Fidanovski, K, Flew, T, Fraser, S, Frempong, RB, Fugelsang, J, Gale, J, García-Navarro, EB, Garladinne, P, Gray, K, Griffin, SM, Gronfeldt, B, Gruber, J, Halperin, E, Herzon, V, Hruška, M, Hudecek, MFC, Isler, O, Jangard, S, Jørgensen, F, Keudel, O, Koppel, L, Koverola, M, Kunnari, A, Leota, J, Lermer, E, Li, C, Longoni, C, McCashin, D, Mikloušić, I, Molina-Paredes, J, Monroy-Fonseca, C, Morales-Marente, E, Moreau, D, Muda, R, Myer, A, Nash, K, Nitschke, JP, Nurse, MS, de Mello, VO, Palacios-Galvez, MS, Pan, Y, Papp, Z, Pärnamets, P, Paruzel-Czachura, M, Perander, S, Pitman, M, Raza, A, Rêgo, GG, Robertson, C, Rodríguez-Pascual, I, Saikkonen, T, Salvador-Ginez, O, Sampaio, WM, Santi, GC, Schultner, D, Schutte, E, Scott, A, Skali, A, Stefaniak, A, Sternisko, A, Strickland, B, Thomas, JP, Tinghög, G, Traast, IJ, Tucciarelli, R, Tyrala, M, Ungson, ND, Uysal, MS, Van Rooy, D, Västfjäll, D, Vieira, JB, von Sikorski, C, Walker, AC, Watermeyer, J, Willardt, R, Wohl, MJA, Wójcik, AD, Wu, K, Yamada, Y, Yilmaz, O, Yogeeswaran, K, Ziemer, C-T, Zwaan, RA, Boggio, PS, Whillans, A, Van Lange, PAM, Prasad, R, Onderco, M, O'Madagain, C, Nesh-Nash, T, Laguna, OM, Kubin, E, Gümren, M, Fenwick, A, Ertan, AS, Bernstein, MJ, Amara, H & Van Bavel, JJ 2022, 'Predicting attitudinal and behavioral responses to COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning', PNAS nexus, vol. 1, no. 3, pgac093. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac093

Müller, T, Husain, M & Apps, MAJ 2022, 'Preferences for seeking effort or reward information bias the willingness to work', Scientific Reports, vol. 12, no. 1, 19486. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-21917-7

Lockwood, PL, Abdurahman, A, Gabay, AS, Drew, D, Tamm, M, Husain, M & Apps, MAJ 2021, 'Aging increases prosocial motivation for effort', Psychological Science, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 668–681. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8c5ra, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620975781

Müller, T, Klein-Flügge, MC, Manohar, S, Husain, M & Apps, M 2021, 'Neural and computational mechanisms of momentary fatigue and persistence in effort-based choice', Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, 4593, pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24927-7

Preprint

Contreras-Huerta, LS, Pisauro, MA, Kuechenhoff, S, Gekiere, A, Heron, CL, Lockwood, P & Apps, MAJ 2022 'A reward self-bias leads to more optimal foraging for ourselves than others' PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8r45z

Forbes, P, Aydogan, G, Braunstein, J, Todorova, B, Wagner, I, Lockwood, P, Apps, MAJ, Ruff, C & Lamm, C 2022 'Acute stress reduces effortful prosocial behaviour' PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/mgn32

Müller, T, Husain, M & Apps, M 2022 'Preferences for seeking effort or reward information bias the willingness to work' PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/8p4dc

Cutler, J, Apps, MAJ & Lockwood, P 2022 'Reward processing and reinforcement learning: from adolescence to aging' PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/pnuk8

Lockwood, PL, Wittmann, M, Nili, H, Matsumoto-Ryan, M, Abdurahman, A, Cutler, J, Husain, M & Apps, MAJ 2021 'Distinct neural representations for prosocial and self-benefitting effort' bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.09.27.461936

Pisauro, A, Fouragnan, E, Arabadzhiyska, D, Apps, M & Philiastides, MG 2021 'Neural Implementation of Bayesian mechanisms underlying the continous trade-off between cooperation and competition' PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/3e6bw

View all publications in research portal