Marcus Harrington
Research Associate

Profile

Biography

PhD in Psychology, University of Lincoln, UK, 2014-2018
BSc in Psychology, University of Lincoln, UK, 2011-2014

Research

Overview

My research focuses on the relationship between sleep and cognition. During my PhD, I investigated the role of REM sleep and emotional memory consolidation in depression vulnerability. This research aimed to improve our understanding of the cognitive, physiological, and genetic risk-factors underlying emotional memory bias in major depressive disorder.

Projects

Sleep deprivation and memory control. Sleep has remarkable benefits for multiple aspects of cognition. However, the influence of sleep on the ability to actively avoid thinking about previous experiences is poorly understood. We are currently investigating memory suppression ability in both well-rested and sleep-deprived participants.

REM sleep theta and memory processing. Theta waves that occur during REM sleep are thought to facilitate overnight memory processing. However, evidence demonstrating that REM sleep theta is causally related to memory consolidation in humans is lacking. We are currently developing novel interventions to enhance theta power during REM sleep, and measuring the impact of these interventions on memory consolidation.

Research group(s)

Emotion Processing and Offline Consolidation (EPOC)

Collaborators

Dr Scott Cairney

Publications

Selected publications

Harrington, M. O., Klaus, K., Vaht, M., Harro, J., Pennington, K., & Durrant, S. J. (2018). Overnight retention of emotional memories is influenced by BDNF Val66Met but not 5-HTTLPR. Behavioural Brain Research, 359(September 2018), 17–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2018.10.015
Harrington, M. O., Nedberge, K. M., & Durrant, S. J. (2018). The effect of sleep deprivation on emotional memory consolidation in participants reporting depressive symptoms. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 152(May), 10–19. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2018.04.013
Harrington, M. O., Johnson, J. M., Croom, H. E., Pennington, K., & Durrant, S. J. (2018). The influence of REM sleep and SWS on emotional memory consolidation in participants reporting depressive symptoms. Cortex, 99, 281–295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2017.12.004
Harrington, M. O., Pennington, K., & Durrant, S. J. (2017). The “affect tagging and consolidation” (ATaC) model of depression vulnerability. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 140, 43–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2017.02.003

Marcus Harrington Research Associate