Siri Graff Leknes
Academic interests
How does the brain create subjective experiences? What happens in the nervous system that makes us perceive something as good or bad, pleasant or painful? My research uses a variety of cognitive, affective and social neuroscience techniques to answer this fundamental question.
My current and previous research projects revolve around the subjective hedonic feelings associated with rewards and punishments, and individual differences in the subjective experience of pain and pleasure. Research techniques used are psychopharmacological studies, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and psychophysical investigations using self-report and autonomic measures.
Higher education and employment history
- I am a cognitive neuroscientist, working as a Research fellow at the Department of Psychology.
- From 2008-2010 I worked as a postdoc at the universities of Gothenburg and Oslo, mentored by Professors Håkan Olausson and Bruno Laeng.
- I completed my D.Phil. on ‘Pain, Pleasure and Relief’ at the Oxford Centre for Functional Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB) in spring 2008, supervised by Professor Irene Tracey.
- My academic training includes masters’ and doctorate degrees in Neuroscience (Oxford University, UK) and a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science (Exeter University, UK).
Appointments
- Associate editor, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
- Associate editor, Scandinavian Journal of Pain
Cooperation
Current active international collaborations:
- Professors Håkan Olausson and Johan Wessberg, and Dan-Mikael Ellingsen at the University of Gothenburg (Social touch, pain and emotion)
- Dr. Chantal Berna, Professor Irene Tracey et al. at the University of Oxford and Harvard (The role of endogenous opioid signalling for pain and emotion)
- Dr. Lars Westberg at the University of Gothenburg (Role of oxytocin in social cognition)
Publications
Leknes, S, Berna, C, Lee, MC, Snyder, G, Biele, G, Tracey, I. The importance of context: when relative relief renders pain pleasant. Pain. In Press PDF
Wanigasekera V, Lee M, R, Andersson J, Leknes S, Rogers Tracey I. Baseline reward circuitry activity and trait reward responsiveness predicts expression of opioid analgesia in healthy subjects. PNAS. 109:17705-17710. PDF
Leknes S., Wessberg J., Ellingsen D.-M., Chelnokova O., Olausson H., Laeng B. Oxytocin enhances pupil dilation and sensitivity to “hidden” emotional expressions. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. In Press PDF
Leknes, S., Lee, M. C., Berna, C. Andersson, J., Tracey, I. Relief as a reward: hedonic and neural responses to safety from pain. PLoS ONE 6:e17870, 2011 PDF
Leknes, S. The pain modulatory cocktail. Scandinavian Journal of Pain 2:105-107, 2011 PDF
Berna, C. Leknes, S., Holmes, E.A. Edwards, R.A., Goodwin, G.G., Tracey, I. Induction of Depressed Mood Disrupts Emotion Regulation Neurocircuitry and Enhances Pain Unpleasantness. Biological Psychiatry 67: 1083-1090, 2010 PDF
Leknes, S. and Tracey, I. Pain and pleasure: masters of mankind. In: Pleasures of the brain: the neural basis of sensory rewards, pp 320-335. Edited by Kringelbach, M and Berridge, K: Oxford University Press, 2010. PDF
Leknes, S., Brooks, J., Wiech, K., Andersson, J., and Tracey, I. Pain relief as an opponent process: a psychophysical investigation. Eur J Neurosci. 28: 794-801, 2008 PDF
Leknes, S., and Tracey, I. A common neurobiology for pain and pleasure. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 9 (4):314-320, 2008.PDF
Leknes, S. and Tracey, I. Hippocampus/entorhinal complex, functional imaging during pain. In Encyclopedic Reference of Pain. Edited by Willis W and Schmidt R: Verlag-Springer; 2007. PDF
Leknes, S.G., Bantick, S., Willis, C.M., Wilkinson, J.D., Wise, R.G. and Tracey, I., Itch and motivation to scratch: an investigation of the central and peripheral correlates of allergen- and histamine-induced itch in humans. J. Neurophysiology 97: 415-422, 2007. PDF