Dr Emma Barkus

Assistant Professor

School: Psychology

Dr. Barkus completed her undergraduate BSc(Hons) Psychology and PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her undergraduate thesis investigated perceptions of depression. Her PhD supervisors were Dr. John Stirling, Manchester Metropolitan University and Prof. Shôn Lewis, University of Manchester. Dr. Barkus’ PhD comprised a number of studies which considered the psychological, cognitive and neural correlates of auditory hallucinations in people from the general population. A number of papers were published from this body of work, some examples of these publications are listed below:

E.J. Barkus, J. Stirling, R.S. Hopkins, S. Lewis (2006) Cannabis-Induced Psychosis-Like Experiences Are Associated with High Schizotypy. Psychopathology, 39 (4): 175–178. https://doi.org/10.1159/000092678

Emma Barkus, John Stirling, Richard Hopkins, Shôn Lewis. (2006) The Presence of Neurological Soft Signs Along the Psychosis Proneness Continuum, Schizophrenia Bulletin, Volume 32, Issue 3, Pages 573–577, https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbj037

Barkus, J. Stirling, R. Hopkins, S. McKie, S. Lewis. (2007) Cognitive and neural processes in non-clinical auditory hallucinations. British Journal of Psychiatry. 191(S51):s76-s81. doi:10.1192/bjp.191.51.s76

Following her PhD, Dr. Barkus completed a post-doctoral position in the Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit at the University of Manchester. Over the time here, Dr. Barkus used imaging and cognitive methods to understand how people vary in their risk for psychosis. With a particular focus on understanding how schizotypal personality traits may be involved in leaving people open to unusual experiences and beliefs; and, how these may then equate to “unwellness”. There was marked consideration of the interaction between state and trait risk factors through research studies, in particular which of these might be differentiated and which may be open to change and intervention. Two examples of the papers which emerged from this period are listed below:

Barkus, S. Lewis. Schizotypy and psychosis-like experiences from recreational cannabis in a non-clinical sample. (2008) Psychological Medicine. 38(9):1267-1276. doi:10.1017/S0033291707002619

Barkus, R. Smallman, N. Royle, C. Barkus, S. Lewis, T. Rushe. (2010). Auditory false perceptions are mediated by psychosis risk factors. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 16(4), 289–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/13546805.2010.530472

After 4 years working at the University of Manchester, Dr. Barkus moved to a London to work in the Imaging Unit of the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London. This provided an opportunity for engagement in research which used psychopharmacology, in particular how there might be meaningful individual differences in the way people respond to psychoactive substances. This post ensured on going engagement with colleagues at the University of Manchester, as well as working with people from the University of Cardiff on a multisite study. Papers from this period of time came out over a longer period of time, some examples are listed below:

Barkus, P.D. Morrison, D. Vuletic et al. (2011) Does intravenous Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol increase dopamine release? A SPET study. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 2011;25(11):1462-1468. doi:10.1177/0269881110382465

Koychev, E. Barkus, U. Ettinger et al. (2011) Evaluation of state and trait biomarkers in healthy volunteers for the development of novel drug treatments in schizophrenia. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 25(9):1207-1225. doi:10.1177/0269881111414450

Barkus, P. Morrison, M. Di Forti, and R.M. Murray (2016) Are deficits in cognition associated with psychotic-like experiences after cannabis? Hum. Psychopharmacol Clin Exp, 31: 402–411. doi: 10.1002/hup.2556.

After a number of years in full time research positions, Dr. Barkus moved to the Department of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Australia, to take up an academic post. During her time here, she taught on the undergraduate and honours programs in psychology. Her contributions included teaching personality and individual differences, development of new teaching content and contributing towards teaching psychopharmacology. Dr. Barkus supervised Honours and Post Graduate Diploma dissertation students during this time, as well as completing a number of PhD students (traditional and Clinical PhD students). Dr. Barkus has on going supervision involvement with four PhD students who remain at the University of Wollongong.

Email Emma

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Dr. Emma Barkus conducts research concerned with why some people are vulnerable to developing mental health difficulties. Much of her work is relevant to serious mental health disorders such as psychosis or post traumatic stress disorder. She takes a symptom level approach, her early work focused on auditory hallucinations, delusions or unusual beliefs, whereas now she is more concerned with anhedonia, or the inability to experience pleasure or reward from activities which usually elicit positive emotions. Dr. Barkus is interested in understanding what elements of thinking, emotions and behaviour change leave people vulnerable to experiencing mental health symptoms. This can mean considering how people perceive the world, how efficiently they think, biases in thinking as well as aspects of personality and emotions. Her work has incorporated multiple methods including cognitive tasks, behavioural measures, self-report and experience sampling methodology.

If you are more interested in understanding her research, consider taking part in some of the studies she currently has running.

Funded through the British Academy, in collaboration with Ass. Prof. Suzanne So, there is a study being conducted to understand how the degree to which we tune out from our environment can be predicted by sleep, unusual experiences and lapses in attention:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WanderingMind

A second on-going projects concerns how invested and successful we are in relationships. People spend a lot of time preoccupied by relationships, reading about them, wanting to get into them or even how to get out of them. We are social beings and intimate relationships can be a source of support and nurturing for us psychologically. As such we would like to understand what elements of personality and thinking assist us in maintaining positive relationships. For more information about this study please follow the link below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WMRelShips

Finally, in collaboration with Dr. Emma Walter and Ass. Prof. Suzanne So, we are interested in the effects of social environment on our satisfied we are with our lives. During COVID social distancing measures, we conducted a study to understand how connected people felt to others and how this related to their emotions. Now that we have returned to life as normal, we would like to understand with the relationship between social connection and people’s emotions is now different. Please follow the link below to find out more:

https://uk.surveymonkey.com/r/JR7BWGX

Please get in touch with Dr. Barkus if you have any questions about these studies or would like to hear about her other research.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Ketogenic Diet has a positive association with mental and emotional well-being in the general population, Garner, S., Davies, E., Barkus, E., Kraeuter, A. 1 Aug 2024, In: Nutrition
The role of loneliness and negative schemas in the moment-to-moment dynamics between social anxiety and paranoia, Chau, A., So, S., Barkus, E. 26 Nov 2023, In: Scientific Reports
Dyslexia: Links with schizotypy and neurological soft signs, Barkus, E., de Leede-Smith, S., Roodenrys, S., Horsley, L., Matrini, S., Mison, E. 1 Apr 2022, In: PsyCh Journal
The Effects of Anhedonia in Social Context, Barkus, E. 1 Sep 2021, In: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports
Not all stress is created equal: Acute, not ambient stress, impairs learning in high schizotypes, Walter, E., Fernandez, F., Barkus, E. 1 Apr 2022, In: PsyCh Journal

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Perceptions of vulnerability of clinical populations involved in biomedical research, Barkus, E. (Principal Investigator), Institute of Medical Ethics, 01/01/25 - 31/12/25, £8,031.00

PGR Supervision

Ruth Medcalf-Bell Signal detection and false perceptions: Investigating the integration of bottom-up and top-down processes in auditory hallucinations Start Date: 01/10/2021 End Date: 01/05/2025
Sarah Nyczaj Kyle The Protective Effects of Resilience and Social Connection in the UK Farming Community Start Date: 01/10/2022

Further Information

Dr. Barkus commenced working at Northumbria University in 2020.

Dr. Barkus is the Department Chair of Ethics and offers support to staff and students while completing the research ethics process for their own research.

As well as supervising undergraduate students completing their dissertations each year, Dr. Barkus contributes to the undergraduate teaching as well. She delivers the Personality Lectures for PY0547 – Psychobiology, Cognition and Individual Differences. This content covers biological, cognitive, trait and cultural influences and consequences for personality. There is an emphasis on applied evidence with an integration of modern research. Dr. Barkus has developed the Module Leader for PY0677 – Mental Health, Cognition and the Brain. This module integrates learning from earlier phases of the degree to understand how thinking and neurobiology varies for people who have mental health difficulties, substance use and impulse disorders as well as dementias and other neurological conditions.

Dr. Barkus supervises undergraduate and Masters dissertation students in a variety of research areas using self-report and cognitive methods. This will allow students to develop their own ideas or to step on to pre-existing research to gain a broader research experience during their dissertation. Dr. Barkus is willing to support students in a group or individual supervision setting.

Dr. Barkus is actively involved in contributing to the scientific community through peer reviews for papers, external grant applications and educational practices at external organisations.