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​​Katrina Zmavc

PhD Student and Rotman Institute Member

Department of Philosophy
Western University

• Biography
• Publications

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For my MSc, I furthered my interest in neural plasticity by combining it with my interest in mental health under the supervision of Drs. Saksida and Bussey in their Translational Cognitive Neuroscience (TCN) Lab. With the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework as my guide for conceptualizing and anatomizing mood disorders, I investigated the role adult neurogenesis, or the generation of new neurons, plays in emotion regulation, specifically depression-relevant reward-related behaviours. This remains an interest of mine but I have shifted my focus towards neuroethics and cybernetics for my PhD in philosophy, under the supervision of Dr. Anderson and Dr. Skelton. In particular, I’m interested in the implications of using technology for neuroenhancement purposes and how this interacts with issues of national defence, international relations, social hierarchies economic power structures, and (re-)conceptualizing what is “human.” .

Zmavc, K. D., Kramar, C. P. (2019). “Measuring mood in rodents: From mazes to touchscreens.” University of Western Ontario Medical Journal, 87(S1), 4-7. doi: 10.5206/uwomj.v87iS1.4878 https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/uwomj/article/view/4878