Professor Redmond O'Connell
Professor in Decision Neuroscience, Psychology
Professor in Decision Neuroscience, Trinity Inst. of Neurosciences (TCIN)
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Haarlem, C.S. and Mitchell, K.J. and Jackson, A.L. and O'Connell, R.G., Individual peak alpha frequency correlates with visual temporal resolution, but only under specific task conditions, European Journal of Neuroscience, 2024
Walsh, K. and McGovern, D.P. and Dully, J. and Kelly, S.P. and O'connell, R.G., Prior probability cues bias sensory encoding with increasing task exposure, eLife, 12, (RP91135), 2023
Elaine A Corbett, L Alexandra Martinez-Rodriguez, Cian Judd, Redmond G O'Connell, Simon P Kelly , Multiphasic value biases in fast-paced decisions, e:oiflfi, 2023
Grogan JP, Rys W, Kelly SP, O'Connell RG, Confidence is predicted by pre- and post-choice decision signal dynamics, Imaging Neuroscience, 2023
Brosnan MB, Dockree PM, Harty S, Pearce DJ, Levenstein JM, Gillebert CR, Bellgrove MA, O'Connell RG, Robertson IH, Demeyere N., Lost in Time: Temporal Monitoring Elicits Clinical Decrements in Sustained Attention Post-Stroke., Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society : JINS, 2022, p249-257
Pinggal E, Dockree PM, O'Connell RG, Bellgrove MA, Andrillon T., Pharmacological Manipulations of Physiological Arousal and Sleep-Like Slow Waves Modulate Sustained Attention., The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 42, (43), 2022, p8113-8124
O'Connell, R.G. and Kelly, S.P., Neurophysiology of Human Perceptual Decision-Making, Annual Review of Neuroscience, 44, 2021, p495-516
Kelly SP, Corbett EA, O'Connell RG, Neurocomputational mechanisms of prior-informed perceptual decision-making in humans, Nature Human Behaviour, 2021
Stefanac, N.R. and Zhou, S.-H. and Spencer-Smith, M.M. and O'Connell, R. and Bellgrove, M.A., A neural index of inefficient evidence accumulation in dyslexia underlying slow perceptual decision making, Cortex, 142, 2021, p122-137
Brosnan, M.B. and Sabaroedin, K. and Silk, T. and Genc, S. and Newman, D.P. and Loughnane, G.M. and Fornito, A. and Oâ Connell, R.G. and Bellgrove, M.A., Evidence accumulation during perceptual decisions in humans varies as a function of dorsal frontoparietal organization, Nature Human Behaviour, 4, (8), 2020, p844-855
Francesca R. Farina, Gabija Pragulbickait", Marc Bennett, Cian Judd, Kevin Walsh, Samantha Mitchell, Redmond G. O'Connell, Robert Whelan, Contralateral delay activity is not a robust marker of cognitive function in older adults at risk of mild cognitive impairment, European Journal of Neuroscience, 2020
Sim, J. and Brown, F.L. and O'Connell, R.G. and Hester, R., Impaired error awareness in healthy older adults: an age group comparison study, Neurobiology of Aging, 96, 2020, p58-67
Walsh, K.S. and McGovern, D.P. and Clark, A. and O'Connell, R.G., Evaluating the neurophysiological evidence for predictive processing as a model of perception, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1464, (1), 2020, p242-268
Kelly C, O'Connell R., Can Neuroscience Change the Way We View Morality?, Neuron, 108, (4), 2020, p604-607
Devine CA, Gaffney C, Loughnane GM, Kelly SP, O'Connell RG., The role of premature evidence accumulation in making difficult perceptual decisions under temporal uncertainty., eLife, 8, 2019
van Kempen J, Loughnane GM, Newman DP, Kelly SP, Kelly SP, Thiele A, O'Connell RG, Bellgrove MA., Behavioural and neural signatures of perceptual decision-making are modulated by pupil-linked arousal., eLife, 8, 2019
Loughnane GM, Brosnan MB, Barnes JJM, Dean A, Nandam SL, O'Connell RG, Bellgrove MA., Catecholamine Modulation of Evidence Accumulation during Perceptual Decision Formation: A Randomized Trial., Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 31, (7), 2019, p1044-1053
Brosnan MB, Arvaneh M, Harty S, Maguire T, O'Connell R, Robertson IH, Dockree PM., Prefrontal Modulation of Visual Processing and Sustained Attention in Aging, a tDCS-EEG Coregistration Approach., Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 30, (11), 2018, p1630-1645
O'Connell, R.G. and Shadlen, M.N. and Wong-Lin, K. and Kelly, S.P., Bridging Neural and Computational Viewpoints on Perceptual Decision-Making, Trends in Neurosciences, 2018
Steinemann NA, O'Connell RG, Kelly SP., Decisions are expedited through multiple neural adjustments spanning the sensorimotor hierarchy., Nature communications, 9, (1), 2018, p3627
O'Connell, R.G. and Murphy, P.R., U-turns in the brain, Nature Neuroscience, 21, (4), 2018, p461-462
McGovern DP, Hayes A, Kelly SP, O'Connell RG., Reconciling age-related changes in behavioural and neural indices of human perceptual decision-making., Nature human behaviour, 2, (12), 2018, p955-966
Loughnane, G.M. and Newman, D.P. and Tamang, S. and Kelly, S.P. and Oâ Connell, R.G., Antagonistic interactions between microsaccades and evidence accumulation processes during decision formation, Journal of Neuroscience, 38, (9), 2018, p2163-2176
Melnychuk MC, Dockree PM, O'Connell RG, Murphy PR, Balsters JH, Robertson IH., Coupling of respiration and attention via the locus coeruleus: Effects of meditation and pranayama., Psychophysiology, 2018, pe13091
Dully, J. and McGovern, D.P. and O'Connell, R.G., The impact of natural aging on computational and neural indices of perceptual decision making: A review, Behavioural Brain Research, 2018
Newman, D.P. and Lockley, S.W. and Loughnane, G.M. and Martins, A.C. and Abe, R. and Zoratti, M.T. and Kelly, S.P. and O'Neill, M.H. and Rajaratnam, S.M. and O'Connell, R.G. and Bellgrove, M.A., Corrigendum: Ocular exposure to blue-enriched light has an asymmetric influence on neural activity and spatial attention, Scientific reports, 7, 2017, p44958
Dockree PM, Barnes JJ, Matthews N, Dean AJ, Abe R, Nandam LS, Kelly SP, Bellgrove MA, O'Connell RG., The Effects of Methylphenidate on the Neural Signatures of Sustained Attention., Biological psychiatry, 82, (9), 2017, p687-694
Laube, I. and Matthews, N. and Dean, A.J. and Oâ Connell, R.G. and Mattingley, J.B. and Bellgrove, M.A., Scopolamine reduces electrophysiological indices of distractor suppression: Evidence from a contingent capture task, Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 11, (99), 2017
Brennan S, McLoughlin DM, O'Connell R, Bogue J, O'Connor S, McHugh C, Glennon M, Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex enhances emotion recognition in depressed patients and controls., Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, 39, (4), 2017, p384-395
Newman, D.P. and Loughnane, G.M., Kelly, S.P. and O'Connell, R.G. and Bellgrove, M.A., Visuospatial asymmetries arise from differences in the onset time of perceptual evidence accumulation, Journal of Neuroscience, 37, (12), 2017, p3378-3385
Harty, S. and Murphy, P.R. and Robertson, I.H. and O'Connell, R.G., Parsing the neural signatures of reduced error detection in older age, NeuroImage, 161, 2017, p43-55
Twomey D., Kelly S., Kelly S., O"Connell R., Abstract and effector-selective decision signals exhibit qualitatively distinct dynamics before delayed perceptual reports, Journal of Neuroscience, 36, (28), 2016, p7346-7352
Loughnane G., Loughnane G., Newman D., Bellgrove M., Lalor E., Lalor E., Lalor E., Kelly S., O'Connell R., O'Connell R., Target selection signals influence perceptual decisions by modulating the onset and rate of evidence accumulation, Current Biology, 26, (4), 2016, p496-502
Newman D., Lockley S., Lockley S., Lockley S., Loughnane G., Loughnane G., Martins A., Martins A., Abe R., Abe R., Zoratti M., Zoratti M., Kelly S., O'Neill M., Rajaratnam S., Rajaratnam S., Rajaratnam S., O'Connell R., O'Connell R., Bellgrove M., Ocular exposure to blue-enriched light has an asymmetric influence on neural activity and spatial attention, Scientific Reports, 6, 2016, p27754 -
Loughnane GM, Shanley JP, Lalor EC, O'Connell RG, Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence of opposing lateral visuospatial asymmetries in the upper and lower visual fields. , Cortex, 63, (2015), 2015, p220 - 231
Nick Ortiz, Aisling Parsons, Robert Whelan, Katie Brennan, Maria LF Agan, Redmond O'Connell, Jessica Bramham, Hugh Garavan, Decreased frontal, striatal and cerebellar activation in adults with ADHD during an adaptive delay discounting task , Acta Neurobiol Exp , 75 , 2015, p326 - 338
Kelly S.P, O'Connell R.G, The neural processes underlying perceptual decision making in humans: Recent progress and future directions, Journal of Physiology Paris, 109, (1-3), 2015, p27 - 37
Connecting clinical and experimental investigations of awareness in traumatic brain injury in, editor(s)J. Grafman and A.M. Salazar , Handbook of Clinical Neurology, Elsevier, 2015, 511-524 , [Dockree, P.M. O'Connell, R.G. Robertson, I.H.]
Salomone, S. Fleming, G.R. Shanahan, J.M. Castorina, M. Bramham, J. O'connell, R.G. Robertson, I.H., The effects of a self-alert training (SAT) program in adults with ADHD, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, 2015, p45-
Newman, D.P. O'Connell, R.G. Bellgrove, M.A., Corrigendum to "Linking time-on-task, spatial bias and hemispheric activation asymmetry: A neural correlate of rightward attention drift" [Neuropsychologia 51 (2013) 1215-1223], Neuropsychologia, 67, 2015, p193-
Twomey D.M, Murphy P.R, Kelly S.P, O'Connell R.G, The classic P300 encodes a build-to-threshold decision variable, European Journal of Neuroscience, 42, (1), 2015, p1636 - 1643
Murphy PR, Robertson IH, Harty S, O'Connell RG, Neural evidence accumulation persists after choice to inform metacognitive judgments., eLife, 4, 2015, pe11946-
Dockree PM, Brennan S, O'Sullivan M, Robertson IH, O'Connell RG, Characterising neural signatures of successful aging: Electrophysiological correlates of preserved episodic memory in older age., Brain and cognition, 97, 2015, p40-50
Harty, S, Robertson IH, Miniussi, C, Sheehy OC, Devine, CA, McCreery S, & O'Connell, RG, Transcranial direct current stimulation over right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex enhances error awareness in older age, Journal of Neuroscience, 2014, p3646 - 3652
Newman, D.P. Loughnane, G.M. Abe, R. Zoratti, M.T.R. Martins, A.C.P. van den Bogert, P.C. Kelly, S.P. O'Connell, R.G. Bellgrove, M.A., Differential shift in spatial bias over time depends on observers[U+05F3] initial bias: Observer subtypes, or regression to the mean?, Neuropsychologia, 64, 2014, p33 - 40
Murphy PR, O'Connell RG, O'Sullivan M, Robertson IH, Balsters JH, Pupil diameter covaries with BOLD activity in human locus coeruleus., Human brain mapping, 35, (8), 2014, p4140-4154
Barnes JJ, O'Connell RG, Nandam LS, Dean AJ, Bellgrove MA, Monoaminergic modulation of behavioural and electrophysiological indices of error processing., Psychopharmacology, 231, (2), 2014, p379-92
Harty S, O'Connell RG, Hester R, Robertson IH, Older adults have diminished awareness of errors in the laboratory and daily life., Psychology and aging, 28, (4), 2013, p1032-41
Balsters JH, O'Connell RG, Galli A, Nolan H, Greco E, Kilcullen SM, Bokde AL, Lai R, Upton N, Robertson IH, Changes in resting connectivity with age: A simultaneous electroencephalogram and functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation., Neurobiology of Aging, 34, (9), 2013, p2194 - 2207
Newman DP, O'Connell RG, Bellgrove MA, Linking time-on-task, spatial bias and hemispheric activation asymmetry: a neural correlate of rightward attention drift., Neuropsychologia, 51, (7), 2013, p1215-23
Kelly SP, O'Connell RG, Internal and external influences on the rate of sensory evidence accumulation in the human brain., The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 33, (50), 2013, p19434-41
O'Connell RG, Dockree PM, Kelly SP, A supramodal accumulation-to-bound signal that determines perceptual decisions in humans., Nature neuroscience, 15, (12), 2012, p1729 - 1735
Murphy PR, Robertson IH, Allen D, Hester R & O'Connell RG, An electrophysiological signal that precisely tracks the emergence of error awareness., Frontiers in human neuroscience, 6, 2012, p65
Salomone, S. and Shanahan, J.M. and Bramham, J. and O'Connell, R.G. and Robertson, I.H., A biofeedback-based programme to improve attention and impulsivity in adults with ADHD, Irish Journal of Psychology, 33, (2-3), 2012, p86-93
O'Connell RG, A simultaneous ERP/fMRI investigation of the P300 aging effect., Neurobiology of Aging, 2012, p2448 - 2461
Cassidy SM, Robertson IH & O'Connell RG, Retest reliability of event-related potentials: Evidence from a variety of paradigms., Psychophysiology, 49, (5), 2012, p659 - 664
Training the brain: Non-pharmacological approaches to stimulating cognitive plasticity. in, editor(s)Posner, M.I. , Neuroscience of Attention, New York, Guildford, 2012, [O'Connell R.G. & Robertson, I.H.]
O'Connell RG, Balsters JH, Kilcullen SM, Campbell W, Bokde AW, Lai R, Upton N, & Robertson IH, A simultaneous ERP/fMRI investigation of the P300 aging effect., Neurobiology of Aging, 33, (10), 2012, p2448 - 2461
Newman DP, O'Connell RG, Nathan PJ, Bellgrove MA, Dopamine transporter genotype predicts attentional asymmetry in healthy adults., Neuropsychologia, 50, (12), 2012, p2823-9
Hester R, Nandam LS, O'Connell RG, Wagner J, Strudwick M, Nathan PJ, Mattingley JB, Bellgrove MA, Neurochemical enhancement of conscious error awareness., The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32, (8), 2012, p2619-27
Joshua H. Balsters, Redmond G. O'Connell, Mary P. Martin, Alessandra Galli, Sarah M. Cassidy, Sophia M. Kilcullen, Sonja Delmonte, Sabina Brennan, Jim F. Meaney, Andrew J. Fagan, Arun L. W. Bokde, Neil Upton, Robert Lai, Marc Laruelle, Brian Lawlor, Ian H. Robertson, Donepezil Impairs Memory in Healthy Older Subjects: Behavioural, EEG and Simultaneous EEG/fMRI Biomarkers, PLoS ONE, 6, (9), 2011, pe24126
Murphy PR, Robertson IH, Balsters JH & O'Connell RG, Pupillometry and P3 index the locus coeruleus-noradrenergic arousal function in humans., Psychophysiology, 48, (11), 2011, p1532 - 1543
Finnigan S, O'Connell RG, Cummins TD, Broughton M, Robertson IH, ERP measures indicate both attention and working memory encoding decrements in aging., Psychophysiology, 48, (5), 2011, p601-11
O'Connell RG, Schneider D, Hester R, Mattingley JB, Bellgrove MA, Attentional load asymmetrically affects early electrophysiological indices of visual orienting., Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991), 21, (5), 2011, p1056-65
Barnes JJ, Dean AJ, Nandam LS, O'Connell RG, Bellgrove MA, The molecular genetics of executive function: role of monoamine system genes., Biological psychiatry, 69, (12), 2011, pe127-43
O'Connell RG, Dockree PM, Bellgrove MA, Turin A, Ward S, Foxe JJ, et al. , Two types of action error: electrophysiological evidence for separable inhibitory and sustained attention neural mechanisms producing error on Go/No-go tasks. , Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21, (1), 2009, p93-104
Redmond G. O'Connell, Paul M. Dockree, Ian H. Robertson, Mark A. Bellgrove, John J. Foxe, and Simon P. Kelly, Uncovering the Neural Signature of Lapsing Attention: Electrophysiological Signals Predict Errors up to 20 s before They Occur, The Journal of Neuroscience, 29, (26), 2009, p8604-8611
O'Connell RG, Bellgrove MA, Dockree PM, Lau A, Fitzgerald M, Robertson I H, Self-Alert Training: Volitional Modulation of Autonomic Arousal Improves Sustained Attention. , Neuropsychologia, 46, (5), 2008, p1379 - 1390
Bellgrove MA, O'Connell RG, Vance A. , Genetics of cognitive deficits in ADHD: clues for novel treatment methods. , Expert Rev Neurother., 8, (4), 2008, p553-61.
O'Connell, R.G., Dockree, P.M., Bellgrove, M.A., Kelly, S.P., Hester, R., Garavan, H., Robertson, I.H. & John J. Foxe , The role of Cingulate Cortex in the detection of errors with and without awareness: a high-density electrical mapping and source-analysis study, European Journal of Neuroscience, 25, 2007, p2571 - 2579
Avenues for the Neuro-Remediation of ADHD: lessons from clinical neurosciences in, editor(s)Bellgrove MA, Fitzgerald M, Gill M , Handbook of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, London, Wyley, 2007, [O'Connell RG, Bellgrove MA, Robertson IH]
O'Connell RG, Bellgrove MA, Dockree P, Lau A, Fitzgerald M, Robertson IH. , Self-Alert Training: Volitional modulation of autonomic arousal improves sustained attention. , Neuropsychologia., 2007
Shalgi S, O'Connell RG, Deouell LY, Robertson IH. , Absent Minded but Accurate: delaying responses increases cccuracy but decreases error awareness. , Exp Brain Res., 182, (1), 2007, p119-24
O'Connell RG, Bellgrove MA, Dockree P, Robertson IH, Cognitive remediation in ADHD - effects of periodic non-contingent alerts on sustained attention to response., Neuropsychological Rehabilitation., 16, (6), 2006, p653-65
O'Connell RG, Bellgrove MA, Dockree P, Robertson IH. , Reduced electrodermal response to errors predicts poor sustained attention performance in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder., NeuroReport., 15, (16), 2004, p2535-8.
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Geuzebroek AC, Craddock H, O'Connell RG, Kelly SP, Balancing true and false detection of intermittent sensory targets by adjusting the inputs to the evidence accumulation process, eLIFE, 2023
Research Expertise
Projects
- Title
- Neural Mechanisms for Perceptual Decisions in Humans
- Summary
- How do we make reliable decisions about noisy sensory inputs? This fundamental question has drawn intense interest from mathematicians, experimental psychologists, cognitive neurophysiologists and engineers alike, culminating in the emergence of a rich theoretical framework for understanding perceptual decision making. At the center of this framework lies the notion of a "decision variable," which integrates sensory evidence over time and triggers the appropriate action upon accruing a criterion amount. Monkey electrophysiology studies have propelled the field forward by identifying neural signals in the brain that fit this role. However, progress in establishing the neural underpinnings of human decision making has been severely hampered by technical challenges. This has presented an enormous obstacle to the field, not only because more elaborate decision making situations can be examined more feasibly in humans, but because decision making, even when based on simple perceptions, may be fundamentally different in humans than in animals. The present proposal builds on a recent paradigm breakthrough that enables isolation of a genuine "decision variable" in a freely-evolving electrical scalp signal that precisely determines the timing and accuracy of perceptual reports. This provides an unprecedented, direct neurophysiological window onto the distinct parameters of the decision process (e.g. "drift rate", baseline and criterion levels) such that the underlying mechanisms of several major behavioral phenomena can be finally resolved. This proposal seeks to develop a systems-level understanding of perceptual decision making in the human brain by tackling four major questions: 1) How are decisions reached more quickly when based on stronger evidence? 2) How is the decision process strategically adapted to deal with prior information and speed pressure? 3) How does top-down spatial attention facilitate faster and more accurate decision making? 4) How does practice strengthen perceptuo-motor interactions and promote intentional decision making? Each of the experiments described in this proposal will definitively test key predictions from prominent theoretical models using robust neurophysiological measurements that have exquisite temporal resolution, are unencumbered by model assumptions, and require minimal signal transformation.
- Funding Agency
- US National Science Foundation
- Date From
- April 2014
- Date To
- April 2017
- Title
- Pinpointing the neural mechanisms underpinning elevated intra-subject variability in ADHD
- Summary
- Background The cognitive impairments exhibited by individuals suffering from attention-deficit/hyperacitivity disorder (ADHD) vary considerably from person to person and consequently a major priority for research has been to identify core impairments that can be linked to disease-specific abnormalities. One of the most reliable hallmarks of ADHD is a difficulty maintaining consistent performance levels over time: known as 'intra-subject variability' (ISV). ISV has been revealed to be a stable and heritable trait but its neural origins remain poorly understood. A key challenge in the effort to explain ISV is that all cognitive tasks requires a complex series of brain mechanisms whose specific contribution to performance can be difficult to conclusively establish. Recently I developed a novel technique that enables the simultaneous monitoring of the critical processing stages of sensory encoding, decision formation and motor preparation, as well as crucial supporting factors of attention and arousal while participants perform a simple perceptual task. The signals can be measured on a trial-by-trial basis allowing them to be directly linked to the timing and accuracy of the participant's responses. In the present project I will utilize this technique to pinpoint the specific neural abnormalities that give rise to elevated ISV in ADHD. Method A group of 35 children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD and a non-ADHD comparison group will undergo electroencephalogram (EEG) recording while they perform a simple perceptual task that requires detection of gradual contrast changes in a patterned stimulus. Group-level and single-trial neural signal analyses will be conducted to establish precisely which processing stages contribute to inconsistent performance in ADHD. Benefits of this research project Several competing explanatory accounts of elevated ISV in ADHD have been proposed but there has been a lack of conclusive evidence to adjudicate between them. Identifying the neural origins of ISV in ADHD is essential to our understanding of how this disorder impacts on brain function. This research has the potential to identify disease-specific biomarkers for ADHD that can contribute to improved strategies for earlier and more accurate diagnosis as well as providing novel targets for pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention.
- Funding Agency
- Brain and Behaviour Research Foundaiton
- Date From
- January 2015
- Date To
- Dec 2016
- Title
- The impact of aging on perceptual decision making
- Funding Agency
- Irish Research Council
- Date From
- Sept 2012
- Date To
- Sept 2015
Recognition
Representations
Symposium Co-Chair, Neuroscience Ireland Annual Meeting, Dublin
Symposium Convenor and Co-Chair, 'P3, the next 50 years', International Congress of Clinical Neurophysiology, Berlin
Awards and Honours
Elected Fellow at Trinity College Dublin
Enterprise Ireland Innovation Award
NARSAD Young Investigator Award
Trinity Excellence in Teaching Award (Nomination)
Trinity Excellence in Research Supervision (nomination)
Neuroscience Ireland Distinguished Investigator Award (Nomination)
Irish Research Council Researcher of the Year Award (nomination)
Memberships
Society for Neuroscience
Society for Psychophysiological Research
Neuroscience Ireland
Board of Reviewing Editors, eLife
Expert Review Panel for Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship Panel