Dr Justine Fam
Research Associate

Dr Justine Fam

PhD, Psychology, 2016, UNSW Sydney

B. Science (Hons Class I), 2010, UNSW Sydney

Diploma in Communications & Media Management, 2003, Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore

Science
School of Psychology

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Psychology at the University of New South Wales. I am currently working on projects that investigate the neural mechanisms underpinning learning and memory. Some of my work assesses how neuromodulation by oxytocin enhances attention and facilitates learning. My other work examines the neural substrates of higher order conditioning use chemogenetic techniques. I was awarded a PhD in Psychology in 2016 at UNSW for my doctoral work which examined the temporal dynamics and behavioural correlates of decision-making. I hope to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie learning and memory by pairing neuroscience techniques with detailed analyses of behaviour.

Phone
0414185323
  • Journal articles | 2022
    Fam J; Clemens KJ; Westbrook RF; Morris MJ; Kendig MD, 2022, 'Chronic exposure to cafeteria-style diet in rats alters sweet taste preference and reduces motivation for, but not ‘liking’ of sucrose', Appetite, vol. 168, pp. 105742 - 105742, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105742
    Journal articles | 2021
    Fam J; Huff MJ; Westbrook RF; Holmes NM, 2021, 'The effect of early list manipulations on the DRM illusion', Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, vol. 74, pp. 1924 - 1934, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/17470218211012620
    Journal articles | 2020
    Crane JW; Holmes NM; Fam J; Westbrook RF; Delaney AJ, 2020, 'Oxytocin increases inhibitory synaptic transmission and blocks development of long-term potentiation in the lateral amygdala', Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 123, pp. 587 - 599, http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/JN.00571.2019
    Journal articles | 2019
    Fam J; Lee JC, 2019, 'Peer mentoring: A move towards addressing inequality between PhD students', Neuroanatomy and Behaviour, vol. 1, pp. e8 - e8, http://dx.doi.org/10.35430/nab.2019.e8
    Journal articles | 2018
    Delaney AJ; Crane JW; Holmes NM; Fam J; Westbrook RF, 2018, 'Baclofen acts in the central amygdala to reduce synaptic transmission and impair context fear conditioning', Scientific Reports, vol. 8, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-28321-0
    Journal articles | 2018
    Fam J; Holmes N; Delaney A; Crane J; Westbrook RF, 2018, 'Oxytocin receptor activation in the basolateral complex of the amygdala enhances discrimination between discrete cues and promotes configural processing of cues', Psychoneuroendocrinology, vol. 96, pp. 84 - 92, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2018.06.006
    Journal articles | 2017
    Fam J; Westbrook RF; Holmes NM, 2017, 'An examination of changes in behavioral control when stimuli with different associative histories are conditioned in compound', Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, vol. 43, pp. 205 - 218, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xan0000140
    Journal articles | 2017
    Holmes NM; Crane JW; Tang M; Fam J; Westbrook RF; Delaney AJ, 2017, 'α2-adrenoceptor-mediated inhibition in the central amygdala blocks fear-conditioning', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-12115-x
    Journal articles | 2017
    Huynh C; Fam J; Ahmed SH; Clemens KJ, 2017, 'Rats quit nicotine for a sweet reward following an extensive history of nicotine use', Addiction Biology, vol. 22, pp. 142 - 151, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/adb.12306
    Journal articles | 2016
    Fam J; Westbrook F; Arabzadeh E, 2016, 'Temporal dynamics of choice behavior in rats and humans: An examination of pre-and post-choice latencies', Scientific Reports, vol. 6, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep20583
    Journal articles | 2016
    Holmes NM; Hutton-Bedbrook K; Fam J; Westbrook RF, 2016, 'Incentive contrast effects regulate responding to a flavor presented in compound with a saccharin unconditioned stimulus in rats', Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, vol. 42, pp. 233 - 245, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xan0000101
    Journal articles | 2015
    Fam J; Westbrook F; Arabzadeh E, 2015, 'Behavioral correlates of the decision process in a dynamic environment: Post-choice latencies reflect relative value and choice evaluation', Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 9, pp. 261, http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00261
    Journal articles | 2015
    Fam J; Westbrook F; Arabzadeh E, 2015, 'Dynamics of pre- and post-choice behaviour: rats approximate optimal strategy in a discrete-trial decision task', Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, vol. 282, pp. 20142963, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.2963
    Journal articles | 2013
    Holmes NM; Fam J, 2013, 'How Does Dopamine Release in the Nucleus Accumbens Core Relate to Encoding of a Pavlovian Incentive Stimulus?', Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 33, pp. 10191 - 10192, http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1543-13.2013

2020 British Society for Neuroendocrinology Project Support Grant

2020 ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA)

My Research Supervision

Honours

  • Benjamin Letran
  • Vanessa Chan (co-supervision with Dr Vincent Laurent)

PhD

  • David Cohen (co-supervision with Dr Nathan Holmes)