EDUCATION
EDUCATION
PhD in Psychology, University of Cambridge, Trinity College
in collaboration with Multi-BAFTA Award-Winning Studio Ninja Theory
cinematic neuroscience
What if immersive horror environments can help us learn about how maladaptive habits are formed and persist in people with conditions such as Obessive-compulsive disorder and addiction?
This is the question we asked and the main focus of my PhD work at the University of Cambridge. Graphics design artists at Ninja Theory designed bespoke horror scenarios that were administered to people with high contamination fears to measure learning under threat.
Participants were placed in a fictional ‘Zombie Apocalpyse’ scenario and their learning was observed whilst in this threatening context.
Together with biomarkers such as salivary alpha amylase and heart rate measures, we were able to successfully induce and measure threat related influences in learning using this methodology. This research proposes avenues for innovation in behavioural neuroscience, where experiments are usually two-dimensional, abstract and overly artificial.
What if there was a way to make experiments more cinematic, thus increasing participant engagement and behave naturally in these highly controllable, immersive environments.
UPCOMING WORK
Incoming Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School beginning September 2025 in the Dunsmoor and NeuroTap Labs continuing my work in Clinical Behavioural Neuroscience with a focus on exercise-enhanced fear extinction, threat learning and mental health.
This will involve working on experiments and theoretical models related to PTSD, fear extinction, and computational neuroscience methodologies using virtual reality.
PUBLICATIONS
ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
2025
Berg, S., Milton, A. L., Robbins, T. W., & Fletcher, P. C. (2025). From Fictional Fears to Experimental Frontiers: Immersive Virtual Reality Environments as a Catalyst for Innovation in Behavioural Neuroscience. [in Prep for Publication].
Berg, S., Morein-Zamir, S., Robbins, T. W., Amorim, F. E., Breese, E., Yew, A., Shea, A., Hardman, T., Zatyczyc, Z., Krishnan, S., & Milton, A. L. (2025). From Horror to Habit: Immersive Simulated Environments Enhance General but not Specific Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer Effects Under Threatening Contexts. [in Prep for Publication].
Berg, S., Healy, M., Milton, A. L., Amorim, F. E., Zenoni, M., & Robbins, T. W. (2025). Specific Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer Correlates with Anterior Cingulate and Supplementary Motor Area Glutamate/GABA Balance in Healthy Volunteers but not in Adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Evidence for Disrupted Neurochemical–Behavioural Coupling. [in Prep for Publication].
Berg, S., Amorim, F. E., Robbins, T. W., Milton, A. L., & Morein-Zamir, S. (2025). Systematic Literature Review: Procedural Insights into Human Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer and Classifying Specific and General PIT. [in Prep for Publication].
2024
Berg, S., Amorim, F., Hardman, T., Zatyczyc, Z., Krishnan, S., Breese, E., Robbins, T., Morein-Zamir, S., & Milton, A. (2024). Investigating the Influences of Evoked Threat on Learning in People with Contamination Fears in Virtual Reality. [Preregistration]. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/Z587C.
Berg, S., Amorim, F., Shea, A., Breese, E., Robbins, T., Milton, A., & Morein-Zamir, S. (2024). Investigating the Role of Sensory Modality and Trait Differences in Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer Effects. [Preregistration]. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/EYT6R.
2023
Berg, S., Amorim, F., Hardman, T., Zatyczyc, Z., Krishnan, S., Breese, E., Robbins, T., Morein-Zamir, S., & Milton, A. (2023). Exploring the Role of Threatening Contexts in Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer Effects in Virtual Reality [Preregistration]. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/TZM4W.
2022
Berg, S., Robbins, T. W., Morein-Zamir, S., Amorim, F. E., & Milton, A. L. (2022). Systematic Literature Review: Human Appetitive Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer. [Preregistration]. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/2YWFQ.
2021
Shafiullah, M., Berg, S., Schaik, P.V., McDonald, L., & D. Allbutt, J. (2021). The Effect of Auditory Distraction on the Auditory Word Repetition Performance of Children with ADHD. Universal Journal of Psychology, 9, 1-7.
Berg, S. & Shafiullah, M. (2021). Applying Dynamic Negative Feedback to Improve Therapeutic Alliance in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. In G. Buela-Casal (Ed.), Advances in Clinical Psychology (pp. 940-950). Granada: Spanish Association of Behavioural Psychology.
Shafiullah, M. & Berg, S. (2021). Facial Action Coding Systems for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications in Mental Health. In G. Buela-Casal (Ed.), Advances in Clinical Psychology (pp. 951-961). Granada: Spanish Association of Behavioural Psychology.
CONFERENCE CONTRIBUTIONS
2024
‘Investigating the Influences of Evoked Threat on Learning in People with Contamination Fears in Virtual Reality’. Poster. Pavlovian Society, Indianapolis, USA, 26-28 September.
‘Zombies and Learning: Capturing Maladaptive Habit Formation and Trait OCD Using Virtual Reality’. Presentation Speaker. Cambridge Memory Meeting, Cambridge, UK, 9 May.
‘Exploring the Role of Threatening Contexts in Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer Effects in Virtual Reality’. Poster (Shortlisted for Poster Prize). Cambridge Neuroscience Seminar, Cambridge, UK, 5 April.
2023
‘Investigating the Role of Sensory Modality and Trait Differences in Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer Effects’. Poster. British Neuroscience Association, Brighton, UK, 23-26 April.
2021
A Revised Functional Body Model: The Relationship Between Phantom Limbs and the Stability of the Body Representation’. Poster. World Psychiatric Association Bangkok, Thailand 10-13 March.
‘The Effect of Auditory Distraction on the Auditory Word Repetition Performance of Children with ADHD’. Poster. World Psychiatric Association, Bangkok, Thailand 10-13 March.
‘The Relationship Between Postural Sway and Trait Anxiety While Viewing Aversive Stimuli’. Poster. International Neuropsychological Society, San Diego, CA, USA 2-5 February.
2020
‘Facial Action Coding Systems for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications in Mental Health’. Poster and Book Chapter. International Congress of Clinical Psychology, XIII Congreso Internacional y XVIII Congreso Nacional de Psicología Clínica: Book of Abstracts. ISBN: 978-84-09-19789-7. 11-14 November.
‘Applying Dynamic Negative Feedback to Improve Therapeutic Alliance in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy’. Poster and Book Chapter. International Congress of Clinical Psychology, XIII Congreso Internacional y XVIII Congreso Nacional de Psicología Clínica: Book of Abstracts. ISBN: 978-84-09-19789-7. 11-14 November.
BOOKS
2025
Berg, S. (2025). The Heimdall Project. [Manuscript in preparation for commercial release on Amazon and Kindle]
Berg, S. (2025). Gaslight. [Off-West End Award-nominated theatrical play: Manuscript in preparation for commercial release on Amazon and Kindle].
AWARDS
2024
Guarantors of Brain Research Travel Award
Rouse Ball Research Award, Trinity College, Cambridge
Shortlisted for Poster Prize at the Cambridge Neuroscience Seminar (CNS 2023: Sleep, Consciousness and Cognition), Exploring the Role of Threatening Contexts in Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer Effects in Virtual Reality, April 5, 2024.
Off West-End Award Nominee for own Written, Performed and Produced Stage Play
2021
Recipient of the Trinity External Research Studentship, Trinity College, Cambridge
Recipient of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation Doctoral Scholarship, Studienstiftung, Germany
2019
Miss England 2019 Semi-Finalist for Humanitarian Contributions to Mental Health
2018
Shortlisted at the TalentScreen Short Film Competition as Writer and Videographer Zurich, Switzerland
2015
Rosenberg Literary Prize Winner for Short Stories, Institut auf dem Rosenberg, St. Gallen, Switzerland
2014
Rosenberg Literary Prize Winner for Short Stories, Institut auf dem Rosenberg, St. Gallen, Switzerland