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Professor Amanda Ellison, Ph.D, BAmod Physiology
Professor in the Department of Psychology
Director of Impact (amanda.ellison@durham.ac.uk), Department of Psychology
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 40430
Room number: RH011
Member of the Centre for Vision and Visual Cognition
Member of the Cognitive Neuroscience Research Unit
Executive Director of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
(email at amanda.ellison@durham.ac.uk)
Research Interests
My interests include the neuroscientific basis of vision; neuronal disruption in migraine headache; visuomotor systems; sensorimotor cortical interfacing; thalamocortical dysrhythmia and the rehabilitative benefits of TMS.
Research Groups
Department of Psychology
Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing
Indicators of Esteem
- 2018: PhD Examination: External examiner for PhD: University College London
- 2017: International Lecture:
University of Natural resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.
Law, Technology and Society Lecture Series.
Invited Lecture "The use of interdisciplinarity in solving societal problems"
- 2017: PhD Examination: External examiner for PhD: Birmingham City University
- 2016: PhD Examination: External examiner for PhD: University of Helsinki
- 2016: PhD Examination: External examiner for PhD: University of Glasgow
- 2015: PhD Examination: External examiner for PhD: NIH
- 2014: PhD Examination: External examiner for PhD: University College London
- 2014: Trustee of Animal Free Research UK: Animal Free Research UK is a charity which was founded in 1970 and is the UK’s leading non-animal medical research charity that funds and promotes the development of techniques and procedures to replace the use of animals in biomedical research.
- 2011: PhD Examination: External examiner for PhD: University College London
Selected Publications
Authored book
- Ellison, Amanda (2020). Splitting; The Inside Story on Headaches. Bloomsbury, Green Tree.
- Ellison, Amanda (2012). Getting your Head around the Brain. Palgrave Macmillan.
Book review
- Ellison, Amanda (2006). Itti et al, the Neurobiology of Attention. A Review. Perception (35): 859-860.
Chapter in book
- Ellison, Amanda, Dunne, Stephen & Lane, Alison R. (2020). Real-world applications in vision and attention: How to help patients find their (golf) balls again. In Real-World Applications in Cognitive Neuroscience. Parkin, Beth Louise Elsevier. 253: 169-200.
- Matthew Rushworth & Amanda Ellison. (2005). Spatial representations and attentional systems for action in the parietal cortex. In Attention in Action; Advances from Cognitive Neuroscience. Humphreys, G.W. & Riddoch, M.J. Psychology Press. 233-262.
- Amanda Ellison, Lauren Stewart, Vincent Walsh & Alan Cowey (2003). Magnetic stimulation in studies of vision and attention. In The Neuropsychology of Vision. Fahle, M. & Greenlee, M. Oxford University Press. 163-178.
Journal Article
- Dunne, Stephen, Close, Helen, Richards, Nicola, Ellison, Amanda & Lane, Alison R (2020). Maximising Telerehabilitation for Patients with Visual Loss After Stroke: Interview and Focus Group Study with Stroke Survivors, Carers, and Occupational Therapists. Journal of Medical Internet Research 22(10): e19604.
- Knight, Helen C., Smith, Daniel T. & Ellison, Amanda (2020). The Role of the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Attentional Bias. Neuropsychologia 148: 107631.
- Dunne, S, Ellison, A & Smith D.T. (2019). The Limitations of Reward Effects on Saccade Latencies: An Exploration of Task-Specificity and Strength. Vision 3(2): 20.
- Moseley, P., Mitrenga, K., Ellison, A. & Fernyhough, C. (2018). Investigating the roles of medial prefrontal and superior temporal cortex in source monitoring. Neuropsychologia 120: 113-123.
- Knight, Helen C., Smith, Daniel T., Knight, David C. & Ellison, Amanda (2018). Light social drinkers are more distracted by irrelevant information from an induced attentional bias than heavy social drinkers. Psychopharmacology 235(10): 2967-2978.
- Todd, Adam, Akhter, Nasima, Cairns, Joanne-Marie, Kasim, Adetayo, Walton, Nick, Ellison, Amanda, Chazot, Paul, Eldabe, Sam & Bambra, Clare (2018). The Pain Divide: a cross-sectional analysis of chronic pain prevalence, pain intensity and opioid utilisation in England. BMJ Open 8(7): e023391.
- Ball, Keira, Birch, Yan, Lane, Alison, Ellison, Amanda & Schenk, Thomas (2017). Comparing the effect of temporal delay on the availability of egocentric and allocentric information in visual search. Behavioural Brain Research 331: 38-46.
- Ellison, Amanda, Ball, Keira L. & Lane, Alison R. (2017). The Behavioral Effects of tDCS on Visual Search Performance Are Not Influenced by the Location of the Reference Electrode. Frontiers in Neuroscience 11: 520.
- Knight, H.C., Smith, D.T., Knight, D.C. & Ellison, A. (2016). Altering attentional control settings causes persistent biases of visual attention. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 69(1): 129-149.
- Moseley, Peter, Alderson-Day, Ben, Ellison, Amanda, Jardri, Renaud & Fernyhough, Charles (2016). Non-invasive Brain Stimulation and Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: New Techniques and Future Directions. Frontiers in Neuroscience 9: 515.
- Moseley, P., Smailes, D., Ellison, A. & Fernyhough, C. (2016). The effect of auditory verbal imagery on signal detection in hallucination-prone individuals. Cognition 146: 206-216.
- Lane, Alison R., Ball, Keira & Ellison, Amanda (2015). Dissociating the neural mechanisms of distance and spatial reference frames. Neuropsychologia 74: 42-49.
- Dunne, S., Ellison, A. & Smith, D.T. (2015). Rewards modulate saccade latency but not exogenous spatial attention. Frontiers in Psychology 6: 1080.
- Smith, D.T., Ball, K. & Ellison, A. (2014). Covert visual search within and beyond the effective oculomotor range. Vision Research 95: 11-17.
- Ellison, A., Ball, K.L., Moseley, P., Dowsett, J., Smith, D.T., Weis, S. & Lane, A.R. (2014). Functional Interaction between Right Parietal and Bilateral Frontal Cortices during Visual Search Tasks Revealed Using Functional Magnetic Imaging and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. PLoS ONE 9(4): e93767.
- Moseley, P., Fernyhough, C. & Ellison, A. (2014). The role of the superior temporal lobe in auditory false perceptions: A transcranial direct current stimulation study. Neuropsychologia 62: 202-208.
- Moseley, P., Fernyhough, C. & Ellison, A. (2013). Auditory verbal hallucinations as atypical inner speech monitoring, and the potential of neurostimulation as a treatment option. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 37(10): 2794-2805.
- Cowey, A., Alexander, I. & Ellison, A. (2013). Modulation of cortical excitability can speed up blindsight but not improve it. Experimental Brain Research 224(3): 469-475.
- Lane, A.R., Ball, K., Smith, D.T. , Schenk, T & Ellison, A. (2013). Near and far space: understanding the neural mechanisms of spatial attention. Human Brain Mapping 34(2): 356-366.
- Ball, K., Lane, A. R., Smith, D. T. & Ellison, A. (2013). Site-Dependent Effects of tDCS Uncover Dissociations in the Communication Network Underlying the Processing of Visual Search. Brain Stimulation 6(6): 959-965.
- Alba-Ferrara, LM, Ellison, A & Mitchell, RLC (2012). Decoding emotional prosody: Resolving differences in functional neuroanatomy from fMRI & lesion studies using TMS. Brain Stimulation 5(3): 347-353.
- Smith, DT, Ball, K & Ellison, A (2012). Inhibition of Return impairs phosphene detection. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 24(11): 2262-2267.
- Lane, A.R., Smith, D.T., Schenk, T. & Ellison, A. (2012). The involvement of posterior parietal cortex and frontal eye fields in spatially primed visual search. Brain Stimulation 5(1): 11-17.
- Dzhelyova, M.P., Ellison, A. & Atkinson, A.P. (2011). Event-related repetitive TMS reveals distinct, critical roles for right OFA and bilateral posterior STS in judging the sex and trustworthiness of faces. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 23(10): 2782-2796.
- Ball, K., Lane, A., Ellison, A. & Schenk, T. (2011). Spatial priming in visual search: memory for body-centred information. Experimental Brain Research 212(3): 477-485.
- Lane, A.R., Smith, D.T., Schenk, T. & Ellison, A. (2011). The involvement of posterior parietal cortex in feature and conjunction visuomotor search. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 23(8): 1964-1972.
- Hirnstein, M., Bayer, U., Ellison, A. & Hausmann, M. (2011). TMS over the left angular gyrus impairs the ability to discriminate left from right. Neuropsychologia 49(1): 29-33.
- Ball, K., Smith, D., Ellison, A. & Schenk, T. (2010). A body-centred frame of reference drives spatial priming in visual search. Experimental Brain Research 204(4): 585-594.
- Smith, D.T., Ball, K., Ellison, A. & Schenk, T. (2010). Deficits of reflexive attention induced by abduction of the eye. Neuropsychologia 48(5): 1269-1276.
- Lane, A. R. , Smith, D. T., Ellison, A. & Schenk, T. (2010). Visual exploration training is no better than attention training for treating hemianopia. Brain 133(6): 1717-1728.
- Ball, K., Smith, D., Ellison, A. & Schenk, T (2009). Both egocentric and allocentric cues support spatial priming in visual search. Neuropsychologia 47(6): 1585-1591.
- Ellison, A. & Cowey, A. (2009). Differential and co-involvement of areas of the temporal and parietal streams in visual tasks. Neuropsychologia 47(6): 1609-1614.
- Ellison, A (2008). Are results from different techniques mutually exclusive in the study of how the brain processes visual search?. Cortex 44(1): 99-101.
- Schindler, I., Ellison, A. & Milner, A.D. (2008). Contralateral visual search deficits following TMS. Journal of Neuropsychology 2(2): 501-508.
- Ellison, A., Lane, A. R. & Schenk, T. (2007). The interaction of brain regions during visual search processing as revealed by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Cerebral Cortex 17(11): 2579-2584.
- Ellison, A. & Cowey, A. (2007). Time course of the involvement of the ventral and dorsal visual processing streams in a visuospatial task. Neuropsychologia 45(14): 3335-3339.
- Whitney, D., Ellison, A., Rice, N.J., Arnold, D., Goodale, M., Walsh, V. & Milner, A.D. (2007). Visually Guided Reaching Depends on Motion Area MT+. Cerebral Cortex 17(11): 2644-2649.
- Ellison, A. & Cowey, A. (2006). TMS can reveal contrasting functions of the dorsal and ventral visual processing streams. Experimental Brain Research 175(4): 618-625.
- Schenk, T., Ellison, A., Rice, N.J. & Milner, A.D. (2005). The role of V5/MT+ in the control of catching movements: an rTMS study. Neuropsychologia 43(2): 189-198.
- Ellison, A., Schindler, I., Pattison, L. L. & Milner, A. D. (2004). An exploration of the role of the superior temporal gyrus in visual search and spatial perception using TMS. Brain 127(10): 2307-2315.
- Lavidor, M., Ellison, A. & Walsh, V. (2003). The cortical representation of centrally presented words: a magnetic stimulation study. Visual Cognition 10(3): 341-362.
- Ellison, A., Battelli, L., Walsh, V. & Cowey, A. (2003). The effect of expectation on facilitation of colour/form conjunction tasks by TMS over area V5. Neuropsychologia 41(13): 1794-1801.
- Ellison, A., Rushworth, M.F.S. & Walsh, V. (2003). The parietal cortex in visual search: a visuomotor hypothesis. Clinical Neurophysiology 56: 321-330.
- Rushworth, M.F.S., Ellison, A. & Walsh, V. (2001). Complementary localization and lateralization of orienting and motor attention. Nature Neuroscience 4(6): 656-661.
- Stewart, L., Ellison, A., Walsh, V. & Cowey, A. (2001). The role of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in studies of vision, attention and cognition. Acta Psychologica 107(1-3): 275-291.
- Ellison, A. & Walsh, V. (2001). Visual Field asymmetries in attention and learning. Spatial Vision 14(1): 3-9.
- Ellison, A. & Walsh, V. (1998). Perceptual Learning in visual search: some evidence of specificities. Vision Research 38(3): 333-345.
- Walsh, V., Ellison, A., Battelli, L. & Cowey, A. (1998). Task-specific impairments and enhancements induced by magnetic stimulation of human visual area V5. Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences 265(1395): 537-543.
- Walsh, V., Ellison, A., Ashbridge, E. & Cowey, A. (1998). The role of the parietal cortex in visual attention - hemispheric asymmetires and the effects of learning: A magnetic stimulation study. Neuropsychologia 37(2): 245-251.
Media Contacts
Available for media contact about:
- Dreams and sleep: the biological basis of behaviour; physiology and behaviour; brain and behaviour
- Neuroscience: the biological basis of behaviour; physiology and behaviour; brain and behaviour
- Drink & drugs: the biological basis of behaviour; physiology and behaviour; brain and behaviour
- Human biology and development: the biological basis of behaviour; physiology and behaviour; brain and behaviour
- Medical and health research topics: the biological basis of behaviour; physiology and behaviour; brain and behaviour
- Memory and brain function: the biological basis of behaviour; physiology and behaviour; brain and behaviour
- Perception / attractiveness: the biological basis of behaviour; physiology and behaviour; brain and behaviour
- Stress: the biological basis of behaviour; physiology and behaviour; brain and behaviour
- Vision / eye movement: the biological basis of behaviour; physiology and behaviour; brain and behaviour
Supervises
Selected Grants
- 2019: NIHR Applied Research Collaboration - North East and North Cumbria (£237609.00 from National Institute for Health Research)
- 2016: An examination of factors influencing the success of a training app for individuals with a partial visual loss (£68644.00 from The Dunhill Medical Trust)
- 2016: Control of Attention by the Motor System: A Motor Bias Theory of Attention (£342080.00 from ESRC)
- 2008: THE ORIENTATION OF ATTENTION IN SPACE (£104351.00 from Dr Hadwen Trust)
- 2017: Channel 4 PhD Studentship (£180000.00 from Channel 4)
- 2014: Rehabilitation of visual function after brain injury (£105000.00 from AHSN)
- 2007: THE INTERACTION OF BRAIN REGIONS (£1360.00 from The Nuffield Foundation)