Trevor Robbins Explained

Trevor William Robbins
Birth Date:1949 11, df=yes
Workplaces:University of Cambridge
Alma Mater:Jesus College, Cambridge
Thesis Title:An analysis of the behavioural effects of d-amphetamine
Thesis Url:http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=13099
Thesis Year:1975
Awards:Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Prize (2014)

Trevor William Robbins CBE FRS FMedSci (born 26 November 1949)[1] is a professor of cognitive neuroscience and the former Head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge.[2] Robbins interests are in the fields of cognitive neuroscience, behavioural neuroscience and psychopharmacology.[3]

Robbins is Director of the University of Cambridge Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute (BCNI). He is an Emeritus Fellow of Downing College, Cambridge,[4] and Past-President of the British Neuroscience Association (BNA), the British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) and the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society (EBPS).[5]

Education

Following admittance in Jesus College, Cambridge, Robbins obtained his Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in psychology in 1971.[6] Following this, he received his PhD degree from the University of Cambridge in 1975 for an analysis of the behavioural effects of Dextroamphetamine.[7]

Robbins is a keen chess player and represented both England Juniors in 1967 and the University of Cambridge as an undergraduate. He was once ranked in the top twenty players in England and had one of his wins from a Varsity match in 1970 featured as a classic game in The Sunday Times.[8] [9]

Career

Robbins was appointed as a Demonstrator in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge in 1973. He was subsequently promoted to Lecturer and Reader, before becoming Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in 1997. Robbins was elected to the Chair, and therefore Head of Department, of Psychology in October 2002, stepping down from the latter role in 2017.

The focus of Robbins' work is on the functions of the frontal lobes of the brain and their regulation by the chemical neurotransmitter systems in humans and other animals. This work is relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, depression, drug addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.[10] Robbins also employs psychological paradigms for investigating cognitive functions, including planning, decision making, learning, attention and self-control, often with brain imaging.[11] His research covers the mechanisms underlying possible cognitive enhancing effects of drugs[12] and understanding the causation and neural basis of drug addiction and impulsive-compulsive behaviour.[13]

The work of Robbins and his collaborators led to the formation of the BCNI in 2005, which is jointly funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Wellcome Trust.[14] Robbins is director of the institute, which focuses on translational work leading to the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Robbins Chaired the MRC Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Board between 1995 and 1999, and was co-leader of the UK Government 2005 Foresight Project entitled 'Drug Futures 2025?'.[15] [16] He has also consulted for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on the state of UK research.[17] Since 2005, Robbins has been a Fellow of the Royal Society.[18] In addition, he is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society (since 1990) and a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (since 2000).[19]

Robbins has published over 850 full papers[20] in scientific journals, including Nature,[21] Brain,[22] Science[23] and Nature Neuroscience.[24]

The ISI Web of Science and Google Scholar credit Robbins with a Hirsch (h) index of 257[25] listing 1347 scientific contributions and 134,127 citations.[26] He is credited as one of the top cited authors in Neuroscience. He has been an editor of the journal Psychopharmacology since 1980,[27] is a Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Science,[28] and is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences.[29] In 2017–2018 he was a guest co-editor of a theme issue of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.[30] Robbins has co-edited 7 books, including Psychology for Medicine,[31] The Neurobiology of Addiction[32] and Decision Making, Effect and Learning.[33]

Inventions

Robbins' research uses neuropsychological tests, such as the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB), which he co-invented with Professor Barbara Sahakian in the 1980s. CANTAB is now used at over 700 research institutes worldwide and is backed by over 1,200 peer-review articles.[34] Robbins serves as a Senior Consultant to Cambridge Cognition, a spin-out of the University of Cambridge. Cambridge Cognition now provides CANTAB.[35]

The CANTAB PAL touchscreen test, which assesses visual memory and new learning, was included in a REF submission at the University of Cambridge. This submission (which included research from across the University unrelated to CANTAB PAL) received a 4* grade from the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014. CANTAB and CANTAB PAL were highlighted in the Medical Schools Council ‘Health of the Nation’ 2015 publication.[36]

Robbins is also a co-author of the neurochemical Functional Ensemble of Temperament model that mapped the functional roles of brain neurotransmitters to main aspects of behavioural regulation.[37] [38]

Press

Robbins has frequently appeared in press interviews to discuss his research such as The Guardian,[39] BBC News,[40] The Daily Express[41] and the Naked Scientists podcast.[42] He frequently engages the public in science, such as speaking at the Hay Festival[43] and participating in a feature on smart drugs for BBC Online.[44]

Awards

Robbins's work was acknowledged by the following honours and awards:

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: ROBBINS, Prof. Trevor Robbins. Oxford University Press. A & C Black. 25 March 2015. 2014.
  2. Web site: Profile: Professor Trevor Robbins. Cambridge Neuroscience. 25 March 2015.
  3. Web site: Profile: Professor Trevor W. Robbins. University of Cambridge. 25 March 2015.
  4. Web site: Professor Trevor Robbins . 2024-03-29 . Downing College Cambridge.
  5. Web site: CBE for Professor Trevor Robbins. The British Psychological Society. 25 March 2015. 3 January 2012. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402164209/http://www.bps.org.uk/news/cbe-professor-trevor-robbins. 2 April 2015. dmy-all.
  6. Trevor W. Robbins: Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions. The American Psychologist. 2011. 66. 8. 665–8. 10.1037/a0025179. 22082379.
  7. Web site: An analysis of the behavioural effects of d-amphetamine. University of Cambridge Newton Library Catalogues. 25 March 2015.
  8. Web site: Head of Department's classic chess game published in Sunday Times. University of Cambridge. 25 March 2015. 2 March 2015.
  9. Web site: Chess Classic Game, Number 1442. The Times. 25 March 2015.
  10. Sahakian. BJ. Morris. RG. Evenden. JL. Heald. A. Levy. R. Philpot. M. Robbins. TW. A comparative study of visuospatial memory and learning in Alzheimer-type dementia and Parkinson's disease.. Brain. 1988. 111. 3. 695–718. 10.1093/brain/111.3.695. 3382917.
  11. Mehta. MA. Owen. AM. Sahakian. BJ. Mavaddat. N. Pickard. JD. Robbins. TW. Methylphenidate enhances working memory by modulating discrete frontal and parietal lobe regions in the human brain. The Journal of Neuroscience. 2000. 20. 6. RC65. 10704519. 6772505. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.20-06-j0004.2000.
  12. Turner. DC. Robbins. TW. Clark. L. Aron. AR. Dowson. J. Sahakian. BJ. Cognitive enhancing effects of modafinil in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology. 2003. 165. 3. 260–9. 10.1007/s00213-002-1250-8. 12417966. 2364190.
  13. Everitt. BJ. Robbins. TW. Neural systems of reinforcement for drug addiction: from actions to habits to compulsion. Nature Neuroscience. 2005. 8. 11. 1481–9. 10.1038/nn1579. 16251991. 16941967.
  14. Web site: Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute. University of Cambridge. 25 March 2015.
  15. Web site: Foresight: Drug Futures 2025. UK Government. 25 March 2015. 13 July 2005.
  16. Web site: Brain-boost drugs 'to be common'. BBC News. 25 March 2015. 13 July 2005.
  17. Web site: Professors brief Blair on scientific advances. Cambridge News. 25 March 2015. 7 November 2002.
  18. Web site: Royal Society: 2005 Fellowships. Times Higher Education. 25 March 2015. 3 June 2005.
  19. Web site: Fellow: Professor Trevor Robbins. The Academy of Medical Sciences. 25 March 2015.
  20. Web site: Author Profile: Trevor W. Robbins. Microsoft Academic Search. 25 March 2015.
  21. Dias. R. Robbins. TW. Roberts. AC. Dissociation in prefrontal cortex of affective and attentional shifts. Nature. 1996. 380. 6569. 69–72. 10.1038/380069a0. 8598908. 1996Natur.380...69D. 4301013.
  22. Owen. AM. James. M. Leigh. PN. Summers. BA. Marsden. CD. Quinn. NP. Lange. KW. Robbins. TW. Fronto-striatal cognitive deficits at different stages of Parkinson's disease. Brain. 1992. 115. 6. 1727–51. 10.1093/brain/115.6.1727. 1486458. 15969057.
  23. Dalley. JW. Fryer. TD. Brichard. L. Robinson. ES. Theobald. DE. Lääne. K. Peña. Y. Murphy. ER. Shah. Y. Probst. K. Abakumova. I. Aigbirhio. FI. Richards. HK. Hong. Y. Jean-Claude Baron. Baron. JC. Everitt. BJ. Robbins. TW. Nucleus accumbens D2/3 receptors predict trait impulsivity and cocaine reinforcement. Science. 2007. 315. 5816. 1267–70. 10.1126/science.1137073. 17332411. 1892797. 2007Sci...315.1267D.
  24. Aron. AR. Fletcher. PC. Bullmore. ET. Sahakian. BJ. Robbins. TW. Stop-signal inhibition disrupted by damage to right inferior frontal gyrus in humans. Nature Neuroscience. 2003. 6. 2. 115–6. 10.1038/nn1003. 12536210. 10096947.
  25. Web site: Prof. T.W. Robbins.
  26. Web site: Robbins, Trevor W - Web of Science Core Collection.
  27. Web site: Psychopharmacology: Editorial Board. Springer. 25 March 2015.
  28. Web site: Science Editorial Board. Science/AAAS. 25 March 2015.
  29. Web site: Elsevier Announces the Launch of a New Journal: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier. 25 March 2015. 30 June 2014.
  30. Trofimova . I.N. . Robbins . T.W. . Sulis . W.. Uher . J. . 2018 . Taxonomies of psychological individual differences: biological perspectives on millennia-long challenges . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences . 373 . 1744 . 20170152 . 10.1098/rstb.2017.0152. 29483338 . 5832678 .
  31. Book: Cooper. PJ. Robbins. TW. Psychology for Medicine. 1988. Arnold. London. 978-0-7131-4543-4.
  32. Book: Robbins. TW. Everitt. B. Nutt. D. The Neurobiology of Addiction. 2010. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 978-0-19-956215-2.
  33. Book: Delgrado. MR. Phelps. EA. Robbins. TW. Decision Making, Affect, and Learning: Attention and Performance XXIII. 2011. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 978-0199600434.
  34. Web site: Company Information. Cambridge Cognition. 25 March 2015.
  35. Web site: Science Team. Cambridge Cognition. 25 March 2015.
  36. Web site: Health of the Nation. Medical Schools Council. 11 February 2015. 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150211152417/http://www.medschools.ac.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/MSC-Health-of-the-Nation.pdf. 11 February 2015.
  37. 2016. Trofimova. IN. Robbins. TW. Temperament and arousal systems: a new synthesis of differential psychology and functional neurochemistry. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews. 64. 382–402. 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.03.008. 26969100. 11375/26202. 13937324. free.
  38. 10.1098/rstb.2017.0153. 29483339. 5832679. Opinion on monoaminergic contributions to traits and temperament. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 373. 1744. 20170153. 2018. Robbins. T. W..
  39. Web site: Jha. Alok. Scientists predict brave new world of brain pills. The Guardian. 25 March 2015. 14 July 2005.
  40. Web site: Gill. Victoria. Rats play odds in gambling task. BBC News. 25 March 2015. 17 June 2009.
  41. Web site: Kolirin. Lianne. Why women's brains work best. Daily Express. 25 March 2015. 4 March 2013.
  42. Web site: The Brain Prize!. The Naked Scientists. 25 March 2015. 20 March 2014.
  43. Web site: Trevor Robbins, Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Paul Howard-Jones and Barbara Sahakian. Hay Festival. 25 March 2015.
  44. Web site: Kohn. Marek. The truth about smart drugs. BBC Future. 25 March 2015. 29 July 2014.
  45. Web site: Ipsen Foundation Seminar (18 March 2005). Foundation Ipsen. 25 March 2015.
  46. Web site: Two professors win award. Cambridge News. 25 March 2015. 6 July 2011.
  47. Web site: Supplement 60009. The London Gazette. 25 March 2015. 8. 31 December 2011.
  48. Web site: Honours: Order of the British Empire, Civil – GBE, DBE, CBE. The Independent. 25 March 2015. 31 December 2011.
  49. Web site: The Angharad Dodds John Fellowship in Mental Health and Neuropsychiatry. Downing College Cambridge. 25 March 2015.
  50. Web site: The Brain Prize Winners 2014. Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation. 2 January 2015.
  51. Web site: Professor Trevor Robbins wins the Brain Prize, 2014. Cambridge Neuroscience. 2 January 2015. 10 March 2014.
  52. Web site: Professor Trevor W. Robbins awarded Brain Prize. University of Cambridge. 2 January 2015. 16 May 2014.
  53. Web site: 2024-03-01 . Opening of the 'Trevor Robbins Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory' . 2024-03-29 . Cambridge Neuroscience . en.

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