Dopamine, Social Cognition, and Motor Function:
We investigated how dopamine affects movement and social connection using drug studies. Our findings show that dopamine plays a role in learning from others, understanding emotions, and adjusting movement speed. Importantly, dopamine’s effects on social cognition and movement appear to be independent—changes in one do not predict changes in the other.
We published 33 Brain2Bee-related scientific papers, with a further 14 under review, and presented our findings at 54 conferences/workshops. We shared our work through talks for the autism and Parkinson’s communities, exhibitions and interactive events at art galleries in Galway and Birmingham and wrote articles for publications such as The Conversation. Our wider public outreach work is estimated to have reached an audience of around 130,000 people.
Dopamine, Social Cognition, and Motor Function in Parkinson’s:
We found that people with Parkinson’s (PwP) were less accurate in recognising emotional facial expressions when off their medication. They also moved more slowly and experienced challenges with adjusting their speed when needed. However, changes in movement did not predict changes in social cognition, supporting the idea that dopamine influences these abilities separately.
We published a paper in Behavioural Brain Research on this topic, with another currently in preparation. A PhD student from our lab has given talks to Parkinson’s and Huntington’s support groups in the UK and Ireland and recently won the HD Buzz Prize for her scientific writing on this topic.
Autism and Parkinson’s:
We examined whether autism and Parkinson’s share a biological link in the dopamine system. A genetic review found no evidence of a shared cause, but we did observe some similarities (but also some differences) in movement patterns. Using machine learning, we identified key differences in how autistic individuals and PwP move, showing that while both groups exhibit motor differences, they are distinct. We developed machine learning classifiers to distinguish between autism and Parkinson’s. Our research also demonstrated that combining movement data with questionnaires improves diagnostic accuracy. Lydia Hickman, the PhD student who led this work, won the British Neuroscience Association Postgraduate Award for this work.
Movement-Based Diagnostic Tools for Autism:
We found that autistic individuals not only recognise emotions differently but also express them using distinct facial movements. Using machine learning, we developed a highly accurate classifier that distinguishes autistic and non-autistic individuals based on facial expressions. We are working with the autistic community to explore whether this tool might improve autism screening. For example, we recently secured funding for a new PhD student who is co-developing a smartphone app, with the autistic community, to support diagnosis. Connor Keating, who led this research, won the EPS Frith Prize, the U21 Future Leader’s Award, and the INSAR dissertation award for his work on emotional processing in autism.
Molecular Mechanisms of Sociability in Honey Bees and Humans:
We studied social behaviour at a genetic level in honey bees and humans, identifying genetic markers linked to sociability—some of which overlap between species. This suggests that while social behaviour has evolved differently across species, certain biological mechanisms, including those involving dopamine, are shared.
We published a commentary in Trends in Cognitive Sciences on this topic, and our scientific paper reporting the genetic findings is currently under review.
