Alexandra Pike
Senior Lecturer

Profile

Biography

• Senior Lecturer, University of York (2026-present)
• Lecturer in Mental Health, University of York (2022-2026)
• Postdoctoral Researcher, University College London (2018-2022)
• DPhil Psychiatry, University of Oxford (2015-2018)
• MSc Neuroscience, University of Oxford (2014-2015)
• BA Psychology and Philosophy, University of Oxford (2011-2014)

Career

I completed my DPhil in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford on eating disorders and compulsivity in 2018, supervised by Professor Phil Cowen and Dr Rebecca Park. Subsequently, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at UCL in the Neuroscience and Mental Health Group at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (mentored by Professor Oliver Robinson), focusing on anxiety disorders but also conducting some work on depression. I have worked on computational modelling methods in psychiatry since 2017, and also have experience in cognitive neuroscience, including MRI and online data collection. I joined the Department of York as a Lecturer in Mental Health in 2022.

Departmental roles

• Institute for Mental Health Research at York (IMRY) Theme lead for Adversity, Risk and Trauma

Research

Overview

I aim to use techniques from computational and cognitive neuroscience to understand how cognition (e.g. learning and decision-making) differs in those who are experiencing mental illness – particularly eating disorders. I am also interested in understanding mental health in terms of clinical psychology constructs and processes, such as catastrophizing and intolerance of uncertainty.

https://cognition-mental-health.github.io/

Projects

I am currently working on several projects, including a) understanding the relationships between uncertainty, intolerance of uncertainty and eating disorders; and b) understanding how uncertainty may relate to controllability.

Research group(s)

• Cognition & Mental Health

Collaborators

• Professor Oliver Robinson
• Professor Jonathan Roiser
• Dr Ritwik Niyogi
• Dr Lei Zhang
• Dr Toby Wise
• Dr Paolo Ossola

Available PhD research projects

I would be keen to hear from prospective PhD students or independent research fellows – please email me!

Supervision

• Lucy Stafford (PhD, 2022-present)
• Holly Myers (PhD, 2024-present)
• Lisa Woodley (PhD, 2024-present)
• Dr Kelly Donegan (Postdoctoral Research Associate, 2025-present).

Teaching

Postgraduate

• The Cognitive Neuroscience of Anxiety and Trauma

Publications

Selected publications

• Pike, A. C., Board, R., Travers, E., Croal, M., Lam, Y. C., Valton, V., Robinson, O. J., & Roiser, J. P. (2026). The recoverability, reliability, and generalizability of reward processing parameters and relation to mental health symptoms. Psychological Medicine, 56, e238. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291726105340
• Pike, A. C., Sharpley, A. L., Park, R. J., Cowen, P. J., Browning, M., & Pulcu, E. (2023). Adaptive learning from outcome contingencies in eating-disorder risk groups. Translational Psychiatry, 13(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-023-02633-w
• Pike, A. C., Lowther, M., & Robinson, O. J. (2021). The Importance of Common Currency Tasks in Translational Psychiatry. Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports, 8(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40473-021-00225-w
• Pike, A. C., & Robinson, O. J. (2022). Reinforcement Learning in Patients With Mood and Anxiety Disorders vs Control Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.0051
• Pike, A. C., Serfaty, J. R., & Robinson, O. J. (2021). The development and psychometric properties of a self-report Catastrophizing Questionnaire. Royal Society Open Science, 8(1), 201362. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.201362

Full publications list

See Google scholar and ORCID.

External activities

Memberships

• British Association of Psychopharmacology -  Ordinary Council Member
•  External Examiner for the MSc Psychology of Mental Health at St Mary's University, Twickenham (2023-2027)

Editorial duties

• Guest editor of special issue in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
• Associate Editor at Royal Society Open Science

Invited talks and conferences

• University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry Seminar Series (2026)
• University College London, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience Seminar Series (2026)
• University of Essex, Psychology Department Seminar Series (2025)
• Computational Psychiatry Conference, Tubingen (2025)
• University of Birmingham, Institute for Mental Health Seminar Series (2023)
• University of Huddersfield, Centre for Cognition and Neuroscience Seminar Series (2023)
• Virtual Brain Talk (May 2022)
• British Association of Psychopharmacology Summer Meeting (July 2021)
• NVP Winter Meeting on Brain and Cognition (December 2019)
• Max Planck Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research (2018)