Dr Nura Lingawi

Dr Nura Lingawi

Lecturer

2013 - Ph.D. in Medicine - Brain and Mind Research Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia - Supervisor: Professor Bernard Balleine - Thesis: The role of the amygdala central nucleus in habitual behavior 

2006 - B.A. in Psychology - University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA 

Science
School of Psychology

I am a researcher in the School of Psychology studying the neural mechanisms of Learning and Memory. My main research interest is in understanding the neural and behavioural characteristics of inhibitory predictive learning using a combination of different in vivo techniques in animal models. I am particularly interested in the role of the infralimbic cortex in aversive (fear) extinction, appetitive extinction, latent inhibition, conditioned inhibition, as well as other forms of inhibitory learning. 

  • Book Chapters | 2016
    Lingawi NW; Dezfouli A; Balleine BW, 2016, 'The Psychological and Physiological Mechanisms of Habit Formation', in The Wiley Handbook on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning, Wiley, pp. 409 - 441, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118650813.ch16
    Book Chapters | 2015
    Lingawi NW; Dezfouli A; Balleine BW, 2015, 'The Psychological and Physiological Mechanisms of Habit Formation', in The Wiley Handbook on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning, pp. 411 - 441, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9781118650813.ch16
  • Journal articles | 2023
    Gladding JM; Lingawi NW; Leung BK; Kendig MD; Chieng BC; Laurent V, 2023, 'High fat diet allows food-predictive stimuli to energize action performance in the absence of hunger, without distorting insulin signaling on accumbal cholinergic interneurons', Appetite, 188, pp. 106769, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2023.106769
    Journal articles | 2022
    Crimmins BE; Lingawi NW; Chieng BC; Leung BK; Maren S; Laurent V, 2022, 'Basal forebrain cholinergic signaling in the basolateral amygdala promotes strength and durability of fear memories', Neuropsychopharmacology, 48, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01427-w
    Journal articles | 2022
    Lingawi NW; Berman T; Bounds J; Laurent V, 2022, 'Sensory-Specific Satiety Dissociates General and Specific Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer', Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 16, pp. 877720, http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.877720
    Journal articles | 2021
    Lingawi NW; Laurent V; Westbrook RF; Holmes NM, 2021, 'Acquisition and extinction of second-order context conditioned fear: Role of the amygdala', Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 183, pp. 107485, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107485
    Journal articles | 2019
    Lingawi NW; Laurent V; Westbrook RF; Holmes NM, 2019, 'The role of the basolateral amygdala and infralimbic cortex in (re)learning extinction', Psychopharmacology, 236, pp. 303 - 312, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-018-4957-x
    Journal articles | 2018
    Goarin EHF; Lingawi NW; Laurent V, 2018, 'Role played by the passage of time in reversal learning', Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12, http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00075
    Journal articles | 2018
    Lingawi NW; Andrew E; Laurent V; Killcross S; Westbrook RF; Holmes NM, 2018, 'The conditions that regulate formation of a false fear memory in rats', Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 156, pp. 53 - 59, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2018.10.009
    Journal articles | 2018
    Lingawi NW; Holmes NM; Westbrook RF; Laurent V, 2018, 'The infralimbic cortex encodes inhibition irrespective of motivational significance', Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 150, pp. 64 - 74, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2018.03.001
    Journal articles | 2017
    Lingawi NW; Westbrook RF; Laurent V, 2017, 'Extinction and Latent Inhibition Involve a Similar Form of Inhibitory Learning that is Stored in and Retrieved from the Infralimbic Cortex', Cerebral Cortex, 27, pp. 5547 - 5556, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhw322
    Journal articles | 2017
    Lingawi NW; Westbrook RF; Laurent V, 2017, 'Extinction of relapsed fear does not require the basolateral amygdala', Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 139, pp. 149 - 156, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2017.01.005
    Journal articles | 2015
    Campbell-Smith EJ; Holmes NM; Lingawi NW; Panayi MC; Westbrook RF, 2015, 'Oxytocin signaling in basolateral and central amygdala nuclei differentially regulates the acquisition, expression, and extinction of context-conditioned fear in rats', Learning and Memory, 22, pp. 247 - 257, http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/lm.036962.114
    Journal articles | 2014
    Dezfouli A; Lingawi NW; Balleine BW, 2014, 'Habits as action sequences: Hierarchical action control and changes in outcome value', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 369, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0482
    Journal articles | 2014
    Dezfouli A; Lingawi NW; Balleine BW, 2014, 'Habits as action sequences: hierarchical action control and changes in outcome value', Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 369, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0482
    Journal articles | 2012
    Lingawi NW; Balleine BW, 2012, 'Amygdala central nucleus interacts with dorsolateral striatum to regulate the acquisition of habits', Journal of Neuroscience, 32, pp. 1073 - 1081, http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4806-11.2012
  • Preprints | 2023
    Gladding J; Lingawi N; Leung B; Kendig M; Chieng B; Laurent V, 2023, High fat diet allows food-predictive stimuli to energize action performance in the absence of hunger, without distorting insulin signaling on accumbal cholinergic interneurons, , http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.29.534845

2020 – NHMRC Ideas Grant – APP2003686 – Dr Vincent Laurent, Dr Beatrice Leung, Dr Nura Lingawi, Dr Billy Chieng – Examining the metabolic and cognitive deficits caused by insulin resistance in the ventral striatum – 400,372 AUD – Duration: 3 years 

2020 – UNSW Science Early Career Academic Network Small Seed Grant – Dr Beatrice Leung, Dr Nura Lingawi - Examining the metabolic and cognitive deficits caused by insulin resistance in the ventral striatum – 500AUD  

My Teaching

Currently teaching Graduate Diploma in Psychology courses 5001 and 5002 (Intro to Psychology I & II) and 5003 (Data Analysis and Methods of Psych Inquiry), as well as undergrad in Psychology courses 2081 (Learning & Physiological Psychology) and 1111 (Measuring Mind & Behaviour).