Introduction

I earned my undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of Glasgow, before completing a two-year research masters in Cognitive Neuropsychology at VU Amsterdam as a VU Fellowship Programme scholar. During my masters, I was awarded funding to complete a research internship in the School of Psychology at Durham University. I then worked as a Research Assistant in the Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, under the supervision of Dr Peter Gallagher, where I researched cognitive impairment in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease in collaboration with the Northern Centre for Mood Disorders. I earned my PhD in a unique interdisciplinary Behaviour Informatics doctoral training programme at Newcastle University, fostering cross-faculty collaborative projects. My PhD thesis investigated core cognitive impairments and their neural correlates in mood disorders. I am currently extending my work in an interdisciplinary setting as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the CNNP lab. 

Current roles and responsibilities

• 2023-present: Postdoctoral Research Associate in the CNNP lab, School of Computing, Newcastle University.

• 2024-present: Associate Fellow, Faculty of Medical Sciences Graduate School, Newcastle University. 

Past roles and responsibilities

• 2018-2023: Leverhulme Doctoral Scholar in Behaviour Informatics, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University. 

• 2018-2023: Postgraduate demonstrator, School of Psychology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University.

• 2016-2018: Research Assistant, Institute of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University. 

Qualifications

• 2018-2023: PhD in Neuropsychology of mood disorders, Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University. 

• 2014-2016: MSc Cognitive Neuropsychology (research), cum laude, Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam. 

• 2008-2012: MA(Hons) Psychology (with Honours of the First Class), University of Glasgow. 

Area of expertise

Computational neuropsychology, neurocognition, cognitive assessment, neuroimaging, brain-behaviour research 

Current research

The majority of my work focuses on developing methods for computational neuropsychology to investigate cognitive functions and their neural correlates in health and disease. I investigate cognitive disease profiles and test nuanced cognitive models to disentangle cognitive processes and improve neuropsychological assessment. I leverage normative modelling and novel measures of cortical morphology to measure brain structure and detect deviations from the healthy trajectory. I apply multivariate approaches to explore complex associations between cognitive dysfunction and brain abnormalities in disease. My research has transdiagnostic applications in health areas such as psychiatry, healthy ageing, neurodegenerative disease, neurodevelopmental disorders, and neurology. My ultimate aims are to further our understanding of complex mechanisms of behaviour and disease processes, and develop methods to improve research, inform clinical practice, and benefit the lives of patients. 

Research Interests

• Human cognition and neurocognitive impairment in disease

• Brain-behaviour associations

• Cognitive tests and neuropsychological assessment

• Cortical morphology in health and disease

• Mood disorders and psychiatric disorders

• Ageing and dementia

• Neurodevelopmental disorders and neurodivergence

Skills

• Computational modelling of cognitive data

• Statistical analysis, including multivariate models

• Normative modelling 

• MRI pre-processing (e.g. FreeSurfer)

• Programming in R (some Matlab and unix)

• High performance computing systems and parallel processing

• Systematic review and meta-analysis

• Psychophysiological measurements, e.g., eye-tracking and skin conductance

• Cognitive testing and neuropsychological assessment

Current teaching and supervision

• Supervise PhD students in the School of Computing. 

• Review PhD projects as an Associate Fellow panel member in the Faculty of Medical Sciences. 

• Recruit and supervise placement students in the CNNP lab, e.g., Psychology Undergraduate placement year research interns. 

Previous teaching and supervision

• 2018-2023: Postgraduate Demonstrator, School of Psychology, Newcastle University.  Modules included:

  • • PSY2022 Methods in Psychology 2A

    • PSY2009 Methods in Psychology 2B

    • PSY2004 Individual Differences

    • PSY1012 Introduction to Psychology

• 2016-2022: co-supervised Undergraduate and Masters project students in the Translational and Clinical Research Institute (2018-2022) and Institute of Neuroscience (2016-2018), Newcastle University. 

Pre-prints

• Little, Flowers, Blamire, Thelwall, Taylor, Gallagher, Cousins, & Wang (2023). Multivariate brain-cognition associations in euthymic bipolar disorder. Under review in Bipolar Disorders. ArXiv preprint, arXiv:2311.01543.

• Leiberg, Blattner, Little, Mello, de Moraes, Rummel, Taylor, Mota, & Wang (2023). Multiscale cortical morphometry reveals pronounced regional and scale-dependent variations across the lifespan. ArXiv preprint, arXiv:2311.13501v2.

Peer-reviewed journal publications

• Little, Anwyll, Norsworthy, Corbett, Schultz-Froggatt, & Gallagher (2023). Processing speed and sustained attention in bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Bipolar Disorders. doi:10.1111/bdi.13396

• Little (2022) Future approaches to investigating cognitive functioning in bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disorders, 00, 1-2. doi:10.1111/bdi.13268

• Little, Alshabrawy, Stow, Ferrier, McNaney, Jackson, ... & O'Brien (2021) Deep learning-based automated speech detection as a marker of social functioning in late-life depression. Psychological medicine, 51(9), 1441-1450. doi:10.1017/S0033291719003994

• Little, Gallagher, … Watson (2019) Language in schizophrenia and aphasia: the relationship with non-verbal cognition and thought disorder. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 24(6), 389-405. doi:10.1080/13546805.2019.1668758

• Leiberg, de Tisi, Duncan, Little, Taylor, Vos, Winston, Mota, & Wang (2023). Effects of anterior temporal lobe resection on cortical morphology. Cortex, 166, 233–242. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2023.04.018

• Wang, Leiberg, Ludwig, Little, Necus, Winston, ... & Mota (2021) Independent components of human brain morphology. NeuroImage, 226, 117546. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117546

• Ciafone, Little, Thomas, & Gallagher (2020) The neuropsychological profile of mild cognitive impairment in Lewy body dementias. JINS, 26(2), 210-225. doi:10.1017/S1355617719001103

• Munneke, Hoppenbrouwers, Little, Kooiman, Van der Burg, & Theeuwes (2018) Comparing the response modulation hypothesis and the integrated emotions system theory: The role of top-down attention in psychopathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 122, 134–139. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.10.019

• Hoppenbrouwers, Munneke, Kooiman, Little, Neumann, & Theeuwes (2017) Fearful Faces do Not Lead to Faster Attentional Deployment in Individuals with Elevated Psychopathic Traits. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 1-9. doi:10.1007/s10862-017-9614-x

Conference presentations

• Little (2023) Tutorial: Assessing brain-cognition relationships in clinical populations using Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA). Oral presentation at Computational Neurology in Epilepsy: Data Science for Researchers (ILAE satellite event), Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. Tutorial code available on GitHub. 

• Little, Wang, Cousins, & Gallagher (2022) Processing speed and sustained attention in mood disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Oral presentation at International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) 2022 Virtual Global Conference. Available at NU ePrints. 

• Little, Wang, Cousins, & Gallagher (2022) The Effect of Core Cognitive Dysfunction on Memory in People with Mood Disorders. Oral presentation at International Neuropsychological Society (INS) 2022 meeting, Barcelona, Spain. Available at NU ePrints.

• Little (2017) Neuropsychological performance in schizophrenia, thought disorder and aphasia. In Watson (Chair) Psychosis and Language, Symposium at BPS Cognitive Section Conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. 

Conference posters

• Little, Gallagher, Cousins, & Wang (2022) Investigating brain-cognition associations in bipolar disorder using Canonical Correlation Analysis. FENS Forum 2022, Paris, France; and OHBM 2022, Glasgow, UK. Available at NU ePrints.

• Little, Watson, Young, Ferrier, Cousins, Wang, & Gallagher (2021) Core cognitive functions and their role in general cognitive dysfunctioning in euthymic bipolar disorder. International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) 2021 Virtual Global Conference, online. 

• Little, et al. (2017) Verbal and non-verbal test performances correlate in schizophrenia and are more severely impaired in patients with thought disorder. Royal College of Psychiatry General Adult Psychiatry Conference, Gateshead, UK. 

• Little & Gallagher (2017) The Effect of Context on the Perception of Emotional Facial Expressions. British Psychological Society Cognitive Section Conference, Newcastle, UK. 

Book chapters

• Centifanti, Risser, & Little (2017) Peer Processes and Child Psychopathology. In L.C. Centifanti, & D. Williams, (Eds.), The Wiley Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology (pp. 311–334). New York, United States: John Wiley & Sons Inc. doi:10.1002/9781118554470.ch15

PhD thesis

• Little (2023) Core cognitive impairments and their neural correlates in mood disorders (PhD dissertation, Newcastle University). Available at Newcastle University Theses digital collection. 

Funding and awards

• 2023: Named investigator on the EPSRC AI in Health grant awarded to Dr Yujiang Wang, '[Fractal AI] Leveraging universal fractal geometry to develop new AI for neuroimaging', Newcastle University (£600k). 

• 2023: Career Development Post-Submission Bursary awardee, Newcastle University Doctoral College (£4,417). 

• 2021: Newcastle University JobsOC Summer Internship Scheme co-awardee, PI: Dr Peter Gallagher (£3,550). 

• 2021: Faculty of Medical Sciences Graduate School Travel Funding awardee, Newcastle University (conference registration).

• 2016: Erasmus+ Internship grant awardee for research internship at Durham University (€2,700). 

• 2014: VU Fellowship Programme scholarship awardee for MSc at Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam (€10,000).

Research environment activities

• 2023-present: junior editorial board member, Bipolar Disorders: The Journal.

• 2020-present: peer review activities (e.g., Psychiatry Research, JINS, JCEN; see Web of Science profile). 

• 2016-present: member of NU Women, Newcastle University. 

• 2016-2018: Member of the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion committee, Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University. 

• 2023: presented at 'North-East Women in Engineering and Computing' event, Newcastle University. 

Non-research roles

• 2012-2014: Graduate/HR assistant, Corporate Training and Development Unit, Dumfries & Galloway Council, Scotland. Led a team to co-ordinate corporate development programmes. 

• Voluntary roles: Girls Network mentor (2018-2020), PACC Durham classroom assistant and exam invigilator (2016); Alzheimer Scotland (2010-2011); ChildLine counsellor (2010-2011).