Dr. Jane Taylor

Biography

Jane Taylor obtained a Bachelor of Science in Experimental Psychology/Neuroscience from the University of Sussex, UK, and later received a PhD from the University of Cambridge, also in the UK. She joined the Department of Psychiatry at Yale as a post-doctoral fellow and has progressed to become a Charles B. G. Murphy Professor in 2008, with additional roles in the Psychology and Neuroscience departments. Her research program integrates basic and translational neuroscience approaches aimed at understanding neurocognition and behavior, primarily through the study of brain limbic cortico-striatal circuitry involved in decision-making, inhibitory control, habits, motivation, memory, and reinforcement learning. She particularly focuses on neurodevelopmental plasticity processes associated with these behaviors, which contribute to addiction, alcoholism, and other psychiatric disorders. Taylor's significant contributions to the field include novel insights into sex differences in behavior and memory processes, as well as how individual differences affect decision-making, psychosis vulnerability, and pathological behaviors. Her extensive research output has had a major impact on addiction biology and related areas in neuroscience.

Research Interests