Dr Livia Tomova

(she/her)

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

Effects of social isolation and loneliness on adolescent cognition 

Loneliness and isolation are increasing in societies all around the world (e.g., Victor 2005, 2012). However, the effects of isolation on cognition are not clear. Importantly, while many studies focus on loneliness in elderly people, a recent large survey (Hammond 2019) found that adolescents and young adults report the highest loneliness levels.  Using experimentally induced, short-term isolation we are currently assessing : i) the effects of isolation on adolescent cognition; ii) brain markers that predict individual sensitivity to isolation; and iii) interactions between social media usage and the effects of isolation.

[Paper]    [Paper]    [Preprint]

Collaborators: Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Stefano Palminteri & Lei Zhang

Effects of social media use on adolescents

Young people have been some of the first large-scale adopters of communicative digital technologies, such as social media and smartphones (Dixon 2022). Yet, the longer-term effects of social media use on young people's brains and minds and their social relationships are unclear. Using a combination of experimental research and secondary analyses of existing large-scale data (e.g., ABCD study), we are assessing the relationship between social media use, changes in brain function and social relationships across adolescent development. 

[Paper]  [Preprint]

Collaborators: Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Amy Orben, Andrew Przybylski

Neural representation of social craving

Recent work in an animal model suggests one neural system that may be critical in healthy social craving: In mice, dopamine neurons of the dorsal raphe nucleus code for the drive to re-engage in social interactions following acute social isolation. But how is social craving represented in the human brain? And is the neural signature of social craving similar to other forms of motivation (e.g., food craving)? In this study we used fMRI and multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to investigate the neural representation of social craving in the human brain. We found that midbrain regions showed similar responses to food cues after fasting and to social cues after isolation and these responses were correlated with self-reported craving.

[Paper] [Paper]

MRI data from this study is publicly available here: OpenNeuro

Code used to analyze this data is publicly available here: OSF

Collaborators: Rebecca Saxe & Kay Tye

In this project we were investigating the effects of acute stress on behavioral and neural measures of social cognition. We used a combination of neuroimaging, behavioral paradigms, endocrinological measures (e.g. cortisol, testosterone) and pharmacological administration (oxytocin) to study these effects.

In a behavioral study, we found that self-other distinction is affected by acute stress, but differently in men and women: while women showed increases in self-other distinction, men showed decreases. Our findings suggest that women flexibly disambiguate self and other under stress, enabling accurate social responses, while men respond with increased egocentricity and less adaptive regulation. This might have implications for explaining gender differences in social skills such as empathy and prosociality. [Paper]

Using pharmacological administration of oxytocin in a male sample we found improved self-other distinction during perspective taking suggesting that oxytocin might represent a modulating factor in the effects of stress on self-other distinction. [Paper]

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we showed that stress increased activation in brain areas associated with the automatic sharing of others’ pain, such as the anterior insula, the anterior midcingulate cortex, and the primary somatosensory cortex. In addition, we found increased prosocial behavior under stress. Furthermore, activation in the anterior midcingulate cortex mediated the effects of stress on prosocial behavior. This research suggests that acute stress may increase prosocial behavior by intensifying the sharing of others’ emotions. [Paper]

Using multivariate pattern analysis of fMRI data we found that acute stress increases the dissimilarity of neural patterns underlying high and low value representation for others. Participants who showed higher dissimilarity also played more favorably for the other. Thus, our results suggest that stressed individuals differentiate more between potential high and low rewards for others suggesting that acute stress increases sensitivity for other people’s rewards. [Paper]

Collaborators: Claus Lamm, Markus Heinrichs, Christian Windischberger, Rupert Lanzenberger and Rebecca Saxe

Biography

EDUCATION

• PhD in Psychology, with distinction, July 2016, University of Vienna
  Thesis: Effects of stress on empathy – a social neuroscience approach
  Received Award of Excellence for Best Austrian Dissertations in 2016

• M.Sc. in Psychology, with distinction, November 2011, University of Vienna

Honours and awards

• Project grant (Co-PI): Isolationtracker: Social distancing, lockdowns and adolescent mental health during Covid-19, Jacobs Foundation, 2020
• Cambridge Philosophical Society Henslow Research Fellowship, Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge, 2020
• Erwin Schroedinger Fellowship (Host department: Department for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT), FWF Austrian Science Fund, 2019
• Max-Kade Postdoctoral Research Exchange Grant (Host department: Department for Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT), 2017     
• Award of Excellence Price for Best Austrian Dissertations 2016, Austrian Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, 2016
• L’Oréal Austria Fellowship for Young Female Scientists in Basic Research, L’Oréal/UNESCO, 2016
• Marietta-Blau Exchange Fellowship, Austrian Ministry of Science, Research and Economy, 2014 
  

Academic positions

• Lecturer (Assistant Professor), Cardiff University , March 2024 – present
• Director of Studies, Psychological and Behavioural Sciences, Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge, October 2021 – 2023
• Henslow Research Fellow, Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge, October 2020 – 2024 
• Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, September 2017 – July 2020 
• Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Maryland Neuroimaging Center, University of Maryland, October 2016 – August 2017 

Speaking engagements

Invited academic talks (selection)

• Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Saxelab meeting (12/2023)
• MSN Seminars Series, Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA (02/2023)
• Flux Developmental CognitiveNeuroscience Congress, Paris, FR (09/2022)
• NYU SPiNES Seminar Series, NYU Langone Health, New York, USA (04/2022)
• Institute of Philosophy, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Brain Week Keynote (03/2021)
• Computational, Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory, Imperial College London, UK, Brain Meetings seminar series (02/2021)
• Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts, USA, Brainmap Seminar (01/2021)
• MIT Media Lab, MIT, Cambridge Massachusetts, USA, City Science Lecture (01/2021)
• Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, UK,
  Affective Brain Lab Seminar (10/2020)
• Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Cog Lunch speaker series (06/2020)
• Boston Children’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Nelson lab meeting (05/2020)
• McLean Hospital / Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Center for Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Research (CDASR) Speaker Series (02/2020)
• Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City, USA, Seminar Series in Biomedical Imaging (05/2020)

Public media talks (selection)

• Keynote speaker at National Convention of Youth Drama 2023, Edinburgh, UK
• Speaker at World Academic Forum, Stockholm, SE
• Ask an expert Webinar Series: Pressure in the lives of children and adolescents, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, OECD, FR
• Stockholm Explorative Talks: Growing up during a pandemic, Stockholm Akademiska Forum, SE
• Simply Science: The Brain and Loneliness, CUNY TV, US
• Mental Help Series: Coping with loneliness and social isolation, Chicago Council on Science and Technology, US
• Psychology in Action Podcast: Psychological effects of COVID-19 (together with Prof. Diana Tamir and Dr. Katie Young), UCLA, US