Adaptive behaviour depends on the ability to monitor the changing environment and re-evaluate our plans for action when needed. This complex ability matures slowly and is deployed differently at different stages of life. Behavioural flexibility is impaired in disorders of affect, thought and behaviour.

In our lab, we use a number of multimodal techniques (including structural, functional and neurochemical brain imaging) in combination with computational modelling. These powerful methods enable us to track the maturation of behavioural flexibility, as well as understand what goes wrong in pathology (e.g. in ADHD, autism and depression).

We focus on the remodelling of brain circuitry which happens as we mature, especially during adolescence. In recent work we integrate structural and functional connectivity with dynamical analysis methods to understand flexible decision-making at multiple time-scales. This approach helps us study moment-to-moment changes in brain and behaviour during experience, as well as the interaction of these changes with slower, maturational processes over development.