Dr Deborah Talmi PhD

Photograph of Deborah Talmi

Lecturer

Room 1.28 Zochonis, first floor; turn right from the stairwell and through the double doors.

Role

I am a lecturer in School of Psychological Science, and a member of the Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health institute.

Please visit my lab webpage.

Memberships of Committees and Professional Bodies

Experimental Psychology Society

Society for Neuroscience

ESRC peer review college

Research

Deborah's research focuses on the interaction between emotion and cognition in two domains: memory and decision making.

Memory
Emotional events are remembered better than neutral ones. What is the underlying brain mechanism that allows for this important adaptive effect? Does this effect depend on the way we think about the event, and how much attention we pay to it? Or is emotional memory depend solely on how strongly aroused we are, and function in humans in a similar way to the way it functions in animals?

Decision making (Funded by ESRC)
A paradigmatic example for the interaction between emotion and cognition in decision-making is when we strongly desire one of the two choice options we face, but know that the option we desire is not the optimal one given some other considerations. For example, a mountain climber would ignore her desire to rest in order to reach the peak. Or a dieter may quench his desire for chocolate cake. In my research I ask how the brain decide between two courses of action.

Research Opportunities

Deborah is still building up her research group. If you are interested in a PhD or a postdoc opportunity please contact her directly.

Please see my lab web page.

Methodological Knowledge

Experimental psychology, neuroimaging (fMRI, M/EEG), Psychopharmacology

Teaching

Psychology undergraduate:

2nd year: Cognitive Neuroscience

3rd year: Emotion and Motivation (module leader)

Psychology postgraduate

Mres: Advanced research methods (Psychophysiological measures)

Cognitive Brain Imaging Mres: Cognitive and social neuroscience (module leader)

Biography

I have completed an M.A. in cognitive psychology at Tel Aviv University, Israel, where I focused on memory mechanisms and specifically the distinction between short- and long-term memory. My Ph.D. work with Morris Moscovitch at the University of Toronto focused on emotional memory, specifically on cognitive mediators for enhanced memory for emotional material. I have taken up further training with Ray Dolan as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging (UCL), focusing on emotional decision making, before beginning my lectureship at the University of Manchester. In addition to research and teaching I am involved in delivering the School's social responsibility agenda, and lead the school's efforts to become more environmentally friendly in my role of 'sustainability enthusiast'.

Qualifications

M.A. in Psychology (Tel Aviv University)

Ph.D. in Psychology (University of Toronto)

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Collaborators and affiliated staff

Oana Mereuta

Nayab Begum

Gemma Barnacle

Publications

2012

  • Park, S.Q., Kahnt, T., Talmi, D., Rieskamp, J., Dolan, R.J. , Heekeren, H.R. (2012). Adaptive coding of reward prediction errors is gated by striatal coupling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA, eScholarID:166753 | DOI:10.1073/pnas.1119969109
  • Talmi D, Fuentemilla L, Litvak V, Duzel E, Dolan RJ. (2012). An MEG signature corresponding to an axiomatic model of reward prediction error. Neuroimage, 59(1), 635-645. eScholarID:131380
  • Talmi, D. & McGarry, L.M. (2012). Accounting for immediate emotional memory enhancement. Journal of Memory and Language, 66(1), 93-108. eScholarID:91107 | DOI:10.1016/j.jml.2011.07.009
  • Talmi, D. & Pine, A. (2012). How costs influence decision values for mixed outcomes. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 6, 146. eScholarID:186108 | DOI:10.3389/fnins.2012.00146
  • Talmi, D., Ziegler, M., Hawksworth, J., Lalani, S., Herman, C. P. & Moscovitch, M. (2012). Emotional stimuli exert parallel effects on attention and memory. Cognition and Emotion, eScholarID:166756 | DOI:10.1080/02699931.2012.722527
  • Todd, R. Talmi, D. Schmitz, T. Susskind, J. & Anderson, A. (in press). (2012). Psychophysical and neural evidence for emotion enhanced perceptual vividness. Journal of Neuroscience, eScholarID:166754 | DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0155-12.2012

2011

  • Bach DR, Talmi D, Hurlemann R, Patin A, Dolan RJ. (2011). Automatic relevance detection in the absence of a functional amygdala. Neuropsychologia, 49(5), 1302-1305. eScholarID:131384 | DOI:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2011.02.032

2010

  • Deborah Talmi, Rene Hurlemann, Alexandra Patin, Raymond J. Dolan. (2010). Framing effect following bilateral amygdala lesion. Neuropsychologia, eScholarID:79082 | DOI:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.03.005
  • Guitart-Masip M, Talmi D, Dolan R. (2010). Conditioned associations and economic decision biases. Neuroimage, 53(1), 206-214. eScholarID:87266 | DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.06.021
  • Kurniawan IT, Seymour B, Talmi D, Yoshida W, Chater N, Dolan RJ. (2010). Choosing to make an effort: the role of striatum in signaling physical effort of a chosen action. Journal of Neurophysiology, 04(1), 313-321. eScholarID:87267

2009

  • Talmi, D., Dayan, P., Kiebel, S.J, Frith C.D & Dolan, R.J. (In-press). How humans integrate the prospects of pain and reward during choice. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(46), 14617-14626. eScholarID:74791 | DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2026-09.2009

2008

  • Talmi, D., Riggs, L., Anderson, A. K. & Moscovitch, M. (2008). Memory consequences of emotionally-modulated picture processing. Learning & Memory, 15(3), 172-182. eScholarID:74793 | DOI:10.1101/lm.722908
  • Talmi, D., Seymour, B., Dayan, P. & Dolan, R. (2008). Human Pavlovian-Instrumental transfer. Journal of Neuroscience. Journal of Neuroscience, 28(2), 360-368. eScholarID:74792 | DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4028-07.2008

2007

  • Talmi, D., Luk, T. C. B., McGarry, L. & Moscovitch, M. (2007). The contribution of relatedness and distinctiveness to emotionally-enhanced memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 56, 555-574. eScholarID:74894 | DOI:10.1016/j.jml.2007.01.002
  • Talmi, D., Schimmack, U., Paterson, T. & Moscovitch, M. (2007). The role of attention in emotional memory enhancement. Emotion, 7(1), 89-102. eScholarID:75158 | DOI:10.1037/1528-3542.7.1.89
  • Talmi, D., & Frith, C. (2007). Feeling right about doing right. Nature, 446(7138), 865-865. eScholarID:74794

2006

  • Talmi, D. & Goshen-Gottstein, Y. (2006). The long-term recency effect in recognition memory. Memory, 14(4), 424-436. eScholarID:75159 | DOI:10.1080/09658210500426623

2005

  • Talmi, D., Grady, C. L., Goshen-Gottstein, Y., & Moscovitch, M. (2005). Neuroimaging the serial position curve: An fMRI test of the single-process vs. the dual process (STM-LTM) model of the primacy and recency effects. Psychological Science, 16(9), 716-723. eScholarID:75160 | DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01601.x

2004

  • Talmi, D. & Moscovitch, M. (2004). Can semantic relatedness explain the enhanced memory for emotional words? Memory & Cognition, 32(5), 742-751. eScholarID:75161 | DOI:10.3758/BF03195864

  • Talmi, D., Atkinson, R. & El-Deredy, W. The Feedback-Related Negativity signals salience prediction errors, not reward prediction errors (in-press). Journal of Neuroscience, eScholarID:188211

Research projects