My research asks how emotion is built from the body up: how interoception, our sense of the body’s internal state, gives rise to feelings and their regulation. I study how this process is shaped in relationships with other people, how it differs across neurotypes, and how it supports mental and brain health across the lifespan.
I am a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Psychological Sciences and Health and Clinical Director of the Laboratory for Innovation in Autism at the University of Strathclyde.
At a glance
- Over £230,000 in research and innovation funding since 2025, as principal or co-investigator, from Innovate UK (UKRI), the Scottish Funding Council and the International Society of Schema Therapy
- 38 publications, including first-author papers in Emotion, Psychophysiology, Cortex, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, and Neurobiology of Aging
- Recognised as Exceptional Promise in Tech under the UK Global Talent Programme for my contribution to digital health
- Academic Editor, PLOS Mental Health
As a researcher, clinician and technology developer, I translate science into practice to address mental health needs across human neurodiversity and the lifespan. Below are my four main translational projects with key publications. The full list can be found on Google Scholar.
Neurodiversity-affirming psychotherapy
Neurodivergent clients often do not benefit from therapy that isn’t adjusted to their needs. Drawing on affective neuroscience, I have developed a neurodiversity-affirming adaptation of schema therapy and trained over 1,000 mental health professionals worldwide.
Current project: a mixed-methods international study of unmet needs, adverse childhood experiences, schemas and schema modes in neurodivergent adults, funded by the International Society of Schema Therapy and led by Liam Spicer, with the Cairnmillar Institute, the University of Western Australia and City St George’s, University of London.
- Challenges autistic ADHD (AuDHD) young people face in the transition to adulthood, and how schema therapy can help.
Dobrushina, O. (2026). Neurodivergent transition to adulthood: AuDHD challenges and the way forward. In H. Kahya (Ed.), Neuro-affirming approaches in schema therapy: Working affirmatively with neurodevelopmental differences. Routledge. In press. - How neuroscience concepts help make sense of psychotherapy practice.
Dobrushina, O. (2024). Current neuroscientific concepts and psychotherapy: Possibilities for integration. Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology. doi: 10.1007/s11055-024-01649-z
Biofeedback and interoceptive technology
Biofeedback gives people real-time information about their bodily states, helping them understand and regulate their emotions. I study how biofeedback shapes brain connectivity and develop new technologies that make it natural, effective, and friendly for neurodivergent people and young children.
- Naturalistic, haptic heartbeat feedback improves body awareness more effectively than visual biofeedback. One of Wiley’s top-viewed articles in 2025.
Dobrushina, O., Tamim, Y., Wald, I. Y., Maimon, A., & Amedi, A. (2024). Interoceptive training with real-time haptic versus visual heartbeat feedback. Psychophysiology. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14648 - A pilot study suggesting that infra-low frequency neurofeedback can strengthen brain connectivity in older adults.
Dobrushina, O. R., Dobrynina, L. A., Arina, G. A., et al. (2022). Enhancing brain connectivity with infra-low frequency neurofeedback during aging: A pilot study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.891547 - A sham-controlled trial of infra-low frequency neurofeedback for people with tension-type headache.
Arina, G. A., Dobrushina, O. R., Shvetsova, E. M., et al. (2022). Infra-low frequency neurofeedback in tension-type headache: A cross-over sham-controlled study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2022.891323 - A single session of neurofeedback changes brain networks, even without conscious engagement; viewed over 9,500 times.
Dobrushina, O. R., Vlasova, R. M., Rumshiskaya, A. D., et al. (2020). Modulation of intrinsic brain connectivity by implicit electroencephalographic neurofeedback. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00192
AI for neurodiversity assessment
Early identification helps neurodivergent children get the right support, but assessment is often slow and hard to access. With Prof Jonathan Delafield-Butt and colleagues at the Laboratory for Innovation in Autism, I develop AI technologies that identify neurodivergence through a smart-tablet serious game, and work to bring them into education and healthcare practice.
Funded by Innovate UK (UKRI) and the Scottish Funding Council, with support from the UKRI & Pioneer AI in Healthcare Accelerator.
- A multi-site evaluation of how accurately our smart-tablet game identifies neurodivergence in preschool children.
Delafield-Butt, J., Sobota, K., Lu, S.-C., Dobrushina, O., et al. (2026). Artificial intelligence-driven identification of neurodivergence in preschool children: A multi-site Phase III diagnostic evaluation of a scalable smart-tablet serious game. Under revision in eClinicalMedicine. - How artificial intelligence can support the assessment of neurodiversity in inclusive education.
Dobrushina, O., Robinson, D., & Delafield-Butt, J. (2026). Artificial intelligence assessment of neurodiversity in inclusive education. In S. Al Maadeed, M. Saleh, & R. Kumar M (Eds.), AI for inclusive education. Elsevier. In press.
Emotion regulation, interoception, and brain health
Emotional difficulties often accompany age-related changes in the brain. I study how our sense of the body’s internal state (interoception) supports emotion regulation as we age, focusing on cerebral small vessel disease, a common age-related condition that raises the risk of dementia.
- Communication between the brain and the heart is already disrupted in the early stages of small vessel disease.
Dobrushina, O. R., Dobrynina, L. A., Arina, G. A., et al. (2026). Disrupted neurovisceral integration in early small vessel disease. bioRxiv, under revision in Brain Communications. doi: 10.1101/2025.10.03.678529 - Emotional difficulties in small vessel disease are linked to changes in brain networks that support understanding of the body and emotions.
Dobrushina, O. R., Dobrynina, L. A., Arina, G. A., et al. (2025). Neural network mechanisms of emotional dysregulation in cerebral small vessel disease. Neurobiology of Aging. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2025.07.013 - Age-related difficulties in identifying emotions (alexithymia) are linked to reduced body awareness and changes in interoceptive brain networks.
Dobrushina, O. R., Dobrynina, L. A., Arina, G. A., et al. (2024). Age-related changes of interoceptive brain networks: Implications for interoception and alexithymia. Emotion. doi: 10.1037/emo0001366 - Maps the brain networks that balance our expectations about the body with incoming bodily signals.
Dobrushina, O. R., Arina, G. A., Dobrynina, L. A., et al. (2021). Sensory integration in interoception: Interplay between top-down and bottom-up processing. Cortex. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.08.009 - Early signs of small vessel disease are more common in people who find it hard to understand their emotions.
Dobrushina, O. R., Arina, G. A., Dobrynina, L. A., et al. (2020). The ability to understand emotions is associated with interoception-related insular activation and white matter integrity during ageing. Psychophysiology. doi: 10.1111/psyp.13537