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Background

Matthew studied Medicine, Neuroscience and Philosophy at the University of Oxford. He subsequently combined postgraduate medical training with clinical neuroscience research, first as an Academic Foundation Doctor (Oxford), and later as an MRC Clinical Research Fellow (MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences & Imperial College London) and an NIHR Academic Clinical Fellow in Psychiatry (Institute Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London).

In 2018 Matthew was awarded a Wellcome Trust Fellowship to complete a PhD in Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at UCL under the supervision of Professor Ray Dolan FRS (UCL) and Professor Zeb Kurth-Nelson (Google DeepMind).

Matthew was appointed as an NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford in 2022 and is currently a Senior Clinical Researcher and Consultant Psychiatrist at the University. He holds honorary appointments at UCL and KCL, and was formerly a member of the Google DeepMind NeuroLab.

Matthew M Nour

BM BCh MA(Oxon) PhD MRCPsych CCT

NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Computational Psychiatry

Computational psychiatry, cognitive neuroscience and AI in mental health

Research

My interests span cognitive neuroscience, AI in psychiatry ("computational psychiatry"), and psychopharmacology.

I am fascinated by how brain activity relates to cognition, affect, and behaviour, and believe a deeper understanding of this relationship will help us develop better clinical tools and treatments in psychiatry.

To investigate these questions, I use functional and molecular brain imaging (fMRI, MEG, PET), machine learning for neural data analysis, computational modelling of behaviour, natural language processing (NLP), and pharmacological interventions.

In my pre-doctoral work (at KCL and Imperial) I investigated the role of dopamine in the pathophysiology of psychotic disorders using functional neuroimaging (fMRI, PET) and computationally-informed behavioural tasks. During my PhD (at UCL) I used MEG and multivariate neural decoding to measure spontaneous memory reactivations (replay) in schizophrenia.

My current work uses functional neuroimaging (MEG, fMRI), naturalistic tasks, and AI models (inc. large language models) to investigate neuro-cognitive processes in psychiatric populations, particularly psychosis.

Dopaminergic organization of striatum is linked to cortical activity and brain expression of genes associated with psychiatric illness.

McCutcheon RA. et al, (2021), Sci Adv, 7

Variability in Action Selection Relates to Striatal Dopamine 2/3 Receptor Availability in Humans: A PET Neuroimaging Study Using Reinforcement Learning and Active Inference Models.

Adams RA. et al, (2020), Cereb Cortex, 30, 3573 - 3589

Task-induced functional brain connectivity mediates the relationship between striatal D2/3 receptors and working memory.

Nour MM. et al, (2019), Elife, 8

Mesolimbic Dopamine Function Is Related to Salience Network Connectivity: An Integrative Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Study.

McCutcheon RA. et al, (2019), Biol Psychiatry, 85, 368 - 378

Dopaminergic basis for signaling belief updates, but not surprise, and the link to paranoia.

Nour MM. et al, (2018), Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 115, E10167 - E10176

The dopamine hypothesis of bipolar affective disorder: the state of the art and implications for treatment.

Ashok AH. et al, (2017), Mol Psychiatry, 22, 666 - 679

Recent publications

Trait anxiety is associated with reduced reward-related replay at rest.

Yu Q. et al, (2025), Nat Commun, 16

Investigating dopaminergic abnormalities in schizophrenia and first-episode psychosis with normative modelling and multisite molecular neuroimaging.

Giacomel A. et al, (2025), Mol Psychiatry, 30, 3533 - 3550

Correction: Investigating dopaminergic abnormalities in schizophrenia and first-episode psychosis with normative modelling and multisite molecular neuroimaging.

Giacomel A. et al, (2025), Mol Psychiatry, 30

Radiomic Analysis of Striatal [18F]FDOPA PET Imaging in Patients with Psychosis for the Identification of Antipsychotic Response

Schiulaz A. et al, (2025), Molecular Imaging and Biology

The Structural Organization and Construct Validity Evidence of the Brazilian Versions of the Mysticism Scale and the Ego-Dissolution Inventory in a Major Religion of the Ayahuasca

Savoldi R. et al, (2023), International Journal of Latin American Religions, 7, 521 - 549

Trajectories through semantic spaces in schizophrenia and the relationship to ripple bursts.

Nour MM. et al, (2023), Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 120

The histamine system and cognitive function: An in vivo H3 receptor PET imaging study in healthy volunteers and patients with schizophrenia.

Arumuham A. et al, (2023), J Psychopharmacol, 37, 1011 - 1022

Theory-Driven Analysis of Natural Language Processing Measures of Thought Disorder Using Generative Language Modeling.

Fradkin I. et al, (2023), Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging, 8, 1013 - 1023

Natural Language Processing in Psychiatry: A Field at an Inflection Point.

Nour MM. and Huys QJM., (2023), Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging, 8, 979 - 981

The relationship between striatal dopamine and anterior cingulate glutamate in first episode psychosis changes with antipsychotic treatment.

Jauhar S. et al, (2023), Transl Psychiatry, 13

Effect of polygenic risk for schizophrenia on cardiac structure and function: a UK Biobank observational study.

Pillinger T. et al, (2023), Lancet Psychiatry, 10, 98 - 107

Reduced coupling between offline neural replay events and default mode network activation in schizophrenia.

Nour MM. et al, (2023), Brain Commun, 5

Reward processing in schizophrenia and its relation to Mu opioid receptor availability and negative symptoms: A [11C]-carfentanil PET and fMRI study.

Shatalina E. et al, (2023), Neuroimage Clin, 39

The Watts Connectedness Scale: a new scale for measuring a sense of connectedness to self, others, and world.

Watts R. et al, (2022), Psychopharmacology (Berl), 239, 3461 - 3483

The effects of AUT00206, a novel Kv3.1/3.2 potassium channel modulator, on task-based reward system activation: a test of mechanism in schizophrenia.

Kaar SJ. et al, (2022), Psychopharmacology (Berl), 239, 3313 - 3323

Assessing the impact of different penalty factors of the Bayesian reconstruction algorithm Q.Clear on in vivo low count kinetic analysis of [11C]PHNO brain PET-MR studies.

Ribeiro D. et al, (2022), EJNMMI Res, 12

Synaptic Gain Abnormalities in Schizophrenia and the Potential Relevance for Cognition.

Nour MM. and Dolan RJ., (2022), Biol Psychiatry, 91, 167 - 169

The effect of antipsychotics on glutamate levels in the anterior cingulate cortex and clinical response: A 1H-MRS study in first-episode psychosis patients.

Zahid U. et al, (2022), Front Psychiatry, 13

Relationship Between Replay-Associated Ripples and Hippocampal N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptors: Preliminary Evidence From a PET-MEG Study in Schizophrenia.

Nour MM. et al, (2022), Schizophr Bull Open, 3

Impaired neural replay of inferred relationships in schizophrenia.

Nour MM. et al, (2021), Cell, 184, 4315 - 4328.e17

Dopaminergic organization of striatum is linked to cortical activity and brain expression of genes associated with psychiatric illness.

McCutcheon RA. et al, (2021), Sci Adv, 7

Clozapine Response in Schizophrenia and Hematological Changes

Blackman G. et al, (2021), Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 41, 19 - 24

The Topography of Striatal Dopamine and Symptoms in Psychosis: An Integrative Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

McCutcheon RA. et al, (2020), Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging, 5, 1040 - 1051

Variability in Action Selection Relates to Striatal Dopamine 2/3 Receptor Availability in Humans: A PET Neuroimaging Study Using Reinforcement Learning and Active Inference Models.

Adams RA. et al, (2020), Cereb Cortex, 30, 3573 - 3589

Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG.

Timmermann C. et al, (2019), Sci Rep, 9

The relationship between childhood trauma, dopamine release and dexamphetamine-induced positive psychotic symptoms: a [11C]-(+)-PHNO PET study.

Dahoun T. et al, (2019), Transl Psychiatry, 9

Mesolimbic Dopamine Function Is Related to Salience Network Connectivity: An Integrative Positron Emission Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Study.

McCutcheon RA. et al, (2019), Biol Psychiatry, 85, 368 - 378

Binding deficits in visual short-term memory in patients with temporal lobe lobectomy.

Zokaei N. et al, (2019), Hippocampus, 29, 63 - 67

The Effects of Antipsychotic Treatment on Presynaptic Dopamine Synthesis Capacity in First-Episode Psychosis: A Positron Emission Tomography Study.

Jauhar S. et al, (2019), Biol Psychiatry, 85, 79 - 87

The relationship between cortical glutamate and striatal dopamine in first-episode psychosis: a cross-sectional multimodal PET and magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging study.

Jauhar S. et al, (2018), Lancet Psychiatry, 5, 816 - 823

The Relationship Between Dopamine Synthesis Capacity and Release: Implications for Psychosis.

Nour MM. et al, (2018), Neuropsychopharmacology, 43, 1195 - 1196

THE ROLE OF DOPAMINE IN PROCESSING THE MEANINGFUL INFORMATION OF OBSERVATIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS FOR THE ABERRANT SALIENCE HYPOTHESIS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

Nour M. et al, (2018), SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN, 44, S385 - S385

A Test of the Transdiagnostic Dopamine Hypothesis of Psychosis Using Positron Emission Tomographic Imaging in Bipolar Affective Disorder and Schizophrenia.

Jauhar S. et al, (2017), JAMA Psychiatry, 74, 1206 - 1213

PREGNANCY OUTCOME IN AQUAPORIN-4 POSITIVE NEUROMYELITIS OPTICA SPECTRUM DISORDER: A MULTI-CENTER RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

Nour M. et al, (2014), JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY NEUROSURGERY AND PSYCHIATRY, 85

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