About
My research interests are in the broad areas of attention and inhibition, with a focus on the effects of video gaming.
- BSc Astrophysics and Psychology, Keele University
- PhD Mathematical Physics, Coventry University
Dr Stephen Johnston
Associate Professor
Psychology
Research Links
Publications
Research Highlights
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Martin, J., Whittaker, A., & Johnston, S. (2022). Pupillometry and the vigilance decrement: Task‐evoked but not baseline pupil measures reflect declining performance in visual vigilance tasks. European Journal of Neuroscience, 55(3), 778-799.
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Hui, S., Mikkelsen, M., Zöllner, H., Ahluwalia, V., Alcauter, S., Baltusis, L., Barany, D., Barlow, L., Becker, R., Berman, J., Berrington, A., Bhattacharyya, P., Blicher, J., Bogner, W., Brown, M., Calhoun, V., Castillo, R., Cecil, K., Choi, Y...., & Edden, R. (2021). Frequency drift in MR spectroscopy at 3T. NeuroImage, 241, 118430
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Young, H., Cousins, A., Johnston, S., Fletcher, J., Benton, D., Young, H., Cousins, A., & Benton, D. (2019). Autonomic adaptations mediate the effect of hydration on brain functioning and mood: Evidence from two randomized controlled trials. Scientific Reports, 9(1)
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Weidacker, K., Weidacker, K., Johnston, S., Mullins, P., Boy, F., & Dymond, S. (2020). Impulsive decision-making and gambling severity: The influence of γ-amino-butyric acid (GABA) and glutamate-glutamine (Glx). European Neuropsychopharmacology, 32, 36-46.
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Bennett, P., Hunter, R., Johnston, S., Jones, D., Noble, S., & Johnston, S. (2020). Covid-19: recording their stories provides emotional benefit to healthcare workers. BMJ, 2020(369), m2536
All Research
Journal Articles
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Chung, Y., White, R., Geier, C., Johnston, S., Smyth, J., Delgado, M., McKee, S., & Wilson, S. (2023). Testing the efficacy of real-time fMRI neurofeedback for training people who smoke daily to upregulate neural responses to nondrug rewards. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 23
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Martin, J., Whittaker, A., & Johnston, S. (2022). Pupillometry and the vigilance decrement: Task‐evoked but not baseline pupil measures reflect declining performance in visual vigilance tasks. European Journal of Neuroscience, 55(3), 778-799.
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Hui, S., Mikkelsen, M., Zöllner, H., Ahluwalia, V., Alcauter, S., Baltusis, L., Barany, D., Barlow, L., Becker, R., Berman, J., Berrington, A., Bhattacharyya, P., Blicher, J., Bogner, W., Brown, M., Calhoun, V., Castillo, R., Cecil, K., Choi, Y...., & Edden, R. (2021). Frequency drift in MR spectroscopy at 3T. NeuroImage, 241, 118430
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Weidacker, K., Johnston, S., Mullins, P., Boy, F., & Dymond, S. (2021). Neurochemistry of response inhibition and interference in gambling disorder: a preliminary study of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA+) and glutamate–glutamine (Glx). CNS Spectrums, 27(4), 1-11.
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Bennett, P., Noble, S., Johnston, S., Jones, D., & Hunter, R. (2020). COVID-19 confessions: a qualitative exploration of healthcare workers experiences of working with COVID-19. BMJ Open, 10(12), e043949
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Martin, J., Whittaker, A., & Johnston, S. (2020). Component processes in free-viewing visual search: Insights from fixation-aligned pupillary response averaging. Journal of Vision, 20(7), 5
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Bennett, P., Hunter, R., Johnston, S., Jones, D., Noble, S., & Johnston, S. (2020). Covid-19: recording their stories provides emotional benefit to healthcare workers. BMJ, 2020(369), m2536
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Weidacker, K., Weidacker, K., Johnston, S., Mullins, P., Boy, F., & Dymond, S. (2020). Impulsive decision-making and gambling severity: The influence of γ-amino-butyric acid (GABA) and glutamate-glutamine (Glx). European Neuropsychopharmacology, 32, 36-46.
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Young, H., Cousins, A., Johnston, S., Fletcher, J., Benton, D., Young, H., Cousins, A., & Benton, D. (2019). Autonomic adaptations mediate the effect of hydration on brain functioning and mood: Evidence from two randomized controlled trials. Scientific Reports, 9(1)
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Alhazmi, K., Milton, J., Johnston, S., & Milton, J. (2018). Examining ‘vowel blindness’ among native Arabic speakers reading English words from the perspective of eye-tracking. System, 80, 235-245.
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Weidacker, K., Snowden, R., Boy, F., & Johnston, S. (2017). Response inhibition in the parametric Go/No-Go task in psychopathic offenders. Psychiatry Research, 250, 256-263.
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Weidacker, K., O'Farrell, K., Gray, N., Johnston, S., & Snowden, R. (2017). Psychopathy and impulsivity: The relationship of the triarchic model of psychopathy to different forms of impulsivity in offenders and community participants. Personality and Individual Differences, 114, 134-139.
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Weidacker, K., Whiteford, S., Boy, F., & Johnston, S. (2017). Response Inhibition in the Parametric Go/No-Go Task and Its Relation to Impulsivity and Subclinical Psychopathy. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 70(3), 473-487.
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Weidacker, K., Weidemann, C., Boy, F., & Johnston, S. (2016). Cathodal tDCS improves task performance in participants high in Coldheartedness. Clinical Neurophysiology, 127(9), 3102-3109.
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Habes, I., Rushton, S., Johnston, S., Sokunbi, M., Barawi, K., Brosnan, M., Daly, T., Ihssen, N., Linden, D., & Johnston, S. (2016). fMRI neurofeedback of higher visual areas and perceptual biases. Neuropsychologia
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Emmert, K., Kopel, R., Sulzer, J., Brühl, A., Berman, B., Linden, D., Horovitz, S., Breimhorst, M., Caria, A., Frank, S., Johnston, S., Long, Z., Paret, C., Robineau, F., Veit, R., Bartsch, A., Beckmann, C., Ville, D., & Haller, S. (2016). Meta-analysis of real-time fMRI neurofeedback studies using individual participant data: How is brain regulation mediated?. NeuroImage, 124, 806-812.
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Leek, E., Yuen, K., & Johnston, S. (2016). Domain General Sequence Operations Contribute to Pre-SMA Involvement in Visuo-spatial Processing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10
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Sokunbi, M., Linden, D., Habes, I., Johnston, S., & Ihssen, N. (2014). Real-time fMRI brain-computer interface: development of a “motivational feedback†subsystem for the regulation of visual cue reactivity. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8
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Kuncheva, L., Martínez-Rego, D., Yuen, K., Linden, D., & Johnston, S. (2014). A spatial discrepancy measure between voxel sets in brain imaging. Signal, Image and Video Processing, 8(5), 913-922.
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Leek, E., Kerai, J., Johnston, S., Hindle, J., & Bracewell, R. (2014). Impaired Visuospatial Transformation but Intact Sequence Processing in Parkinson Disease. Cognitive And Behavioral Neurology, 27(3), 130-138.
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Gobet, F., Johnston, S., Ferrufino, G., Johnston, M., Jones, M., Molyneux, A., Terzis, A., & Weeden, L. (2014). "No level up!": no effects of video game specialization and expertise on cognitive performance. Frontiers in Psychology, 5(1337)
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Johnston, S., Linden, D., & Shapiro, K. (2012). Functional Imaging Reveals Working Memory and Attention Interact to Produce the Attentional Blink. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 24(1), 28-38.
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Lancaster, T., Baird, A., Wolf, C., Jackson, M., Johnston, S., Donev, R., Thome, J., & Linden, D. (2011). Neural hyperactivation in carriers of the Alzheimer's risk variant on the clusterin gene. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 21(12), 880-884.
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Johnston, S., Linden, D., Healy, D., Goebel, R., Habes, I., & Boehm, S. (2011). Upregulation of emotion areas through neurofeedback with a focus on positive mood. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 11(1), 44-51.
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Subramanian, L., Hindle, J., Johnston, S., Roberts, M., Husain, M., Goebel, R., Linden, D., & Johnston, S. (2011). Real-Time Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Neurofeedback for Treatment of Parkinson's Disease. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(45), 16309-16317.
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Linden, D., Thornton, K., Kuswanto, C., Johnston, S., Ven, V., Jackson, M., & Johnston, S. (2011). The Brain's Voices: Comparing Nonclinical Auditory Hallucinations and Imagery. Cerebral Cortex, 21(2), 330-337.
Supervision
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Investigation into the efficacy of eye-tracking and neurochemistry to assess cognitive status in the ageing population. (current)
PhDOther supervisor: Dr Claire Hanley -
The Effect of Video Game Use on Executive Functions (awarded 2024)
PhDOther supervisor: Dr Kathrin WeidackerOther supervisor: Dr Rob Lowe
Taught Modules
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PMNM14 Contemporary Issues in Medical Science
This module will allow students to choose from a range of short contemporary topics in Medical Sciences including screening for new therapeutic compounds, using model systems to understand human disease and disorders, using behavioral tools and open-source analysis software to answer contemporary questions in neuroscience such as how defects in genes or drugs influence behavior. There will also be the opportunity to select introductory journal club or lean sessions with potential dissertation supervisors. The focus on techniques is complemented by seminars on the ethics of human and animal studies. Each topic will be approximately 1 day and students will be able to pick 4-5 topics.
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PMNM19J Contemporary Issues in Medical Science
This module will allow students to choose from a range of short contemporary topics in Medical Sciences including screening for new therapeutic compounds, using model systems to understand human disease and disorders, using behavioral tools and open-source analysis software to answer contemporary questions in neuroscience such as how defects in genes or drugs influence behavior. There will also be the opportunity to select introductory journal club or lean sessions with potential dissertation supervisors. The focus on techniques is complemented by seminars on the ethics of human and animal studies. Each topic will be approximately 1 day and students will be able to pick 4-5 topics.
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PS-M67 Structure and Function of the Brain
This module provides an introduction into basic human functional neuroanatomy. Students will learn about the principles underlying the anatomical organisation and functional segregation of the human brain. Evolutionary and developmental origins of brain structure and function, as well as the relation between brain structure and function will be discussed.
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PSY319 Independent Research Project
Students conduct an independent research project under the supervision of a member of staff. The research topic is decided in conjunction with supervisors and Research topics. Students must design, conduct, analyse and write up a piece of research in order to achieve Graduate Basis for Chartership with the British Psychological Society (BPS). They must also complete an Ethical Considerations Form, showing that they have considered and resolved ethical issues relating to their project, and that they have implemented appropriate best practices for improving the reproducibility of their research.
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PSY319W Prosiect Ymchwil Annibynnol
Mae myfyrwyr yn cynnal prosiect ymchwil annibynnol dan oruchwyliaeth aelod o staff. Penderfynir ar bwnc yr ymchwil ar y cyd â goruchwylwyr a phynciau Ymchwil. Rhaid i fyfyrwyr ddylunio, cynnal, dadansoddi ac ysgrifennu darn o ymchwil er mwyn cyflawni Sail Graddedig ar gyfer Siarter gyda Chymdeithas Seicolegol Prydain (BPS). Rhaid iddynt hefyd lenwi Ffurflen Ystyriaethau Moesegol, gan ddangos eu bod wedi ystyried a datrys materion moesegol sy'n ymwneud â'u prosiect, a'u bod wedi gweithredu arferion gorau priodol ar gyfer gwella atgynyrchioldeb eu hymchwil.
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PSY325 Independent Research Project - Joint Honours
Students conduct an independent research project under the supervision of a member of staff. The research topic is decided in conjunction with supervisors and research topics. Students must design, conduct, analyse and write up a piece of research in order to achieve Graduate Basis for Chartership with the British Psychological Society (BPS). They must also complete an ethical considerations form, showing that they have considered and resolved ethical issues relating to their project, and that they have implemented appropriate best practices for improving the reproducibility of their research.
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PSY325W Prosiect Ymchwil Annibynnol - Anrhydeddau ar y Cyd
Mae myfyrwyr yn cynnal prosiect ymchwil annibynnol dan oruchwyliaeth aelod o staff. Penderfynir ar bwnc yr ymchwil ar y cyd â goruchwylwyr a phynciau ymchwil. Rhaid i fyfyrwyr ddylunio, cynnal, dadansoddi ac ysgrifennu darn o ymchwil er mwyn cyflawni Sail Graddedig ar gyfer Siarter gyda Chymdeithas Seicolegol Prydain (BPS). Rhaid iddynt hefyd lenwi ffurflen ystyriaethau moesegol, gan ddangos eu bod wedi ystyried a datrys materion moesegol sy'n ymwneud â'u prosiect, a'u bod wedi gweithredu arferion gorau priodol ar gyfer gwella atgynyrchioldeb eu hymchwil.
Career History
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Lecturer, Brunel University, London
2010 - 2012