Professor Paul Fletcher

Bernard Wolfe Professor of Health Neuroscience at Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge

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Bernard Wolfe Professor of Health Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge

Paul Fletcher trained in medicine and psychiatry before taking a PhD in cognitive neuroscience. He was elected Bernard Wolfe Professor of Health Neuroscience in 2008. He uses combinations of pharmacological challenges, neuroimaging and larger scale behavioural studies in healthy and clinical populations, with the aim of understanding the basis of learning and decision-making in the human brain.

The central principle of his research is that the brain is occupied in the process of forming predictions and associations to minimise error and uncertainty and to maximise reward. In many instances the cognitive and reflective processes engaged with this goal can conflict with underlying automatic and habitual processes. This may lead to behaviours that can seem irrational and in conflict with an individual’s expressed goals and that may prove health-harming in the longer term. Given that the major worldwide non-communicable diseases are profoundly influenced by health-harming decisions and behaviours, understanding how body, brain and environmental signals are integrated in shaping them will be a crucial part of improving global health.

  • 21 April 2016, 6pm

    Behaviour and Health Research Unit Annual Lecture 2016

    This year's Behaviour and Health Research Unit (BHRU) Annual Lecture will be delivered by Linda Bauld, Professor of Health Policy, Director of the Institute for Social Marketing, and Dean of Research at the University of Stirling. The subject will be "Electronic cigarettes: a disruptive technology?"

  • 4 June 2015, 6pm

    What can history tell us about current health inequalities?

    This year's Behaviour and Health Research Unit (BHRU) Annual Lecture will be delivered by Professor Simon Szreter, Professor of History and Public Policy, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge.