Amber R. Hopkins, MA

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Amber R. Hopkins, MA

Research Consultant

I am currently a doctoral candidate in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the lab of Dr. Martin Monti, where my research is focused on examining the contributions of subcortical structures to consciousness by combining neuroimaging tools like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) with non-invasive neuromodulation techniques like transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), TMS-EEG, and transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS)

Graduate

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Undergraduate

Chapman University

Publications

Hopkins, A. R., Cain, J. A., White, E. A., Abakians, S., & Monti, M. M. (2025). Transcranial ultrasonic stimulation of central thalamus reduces arousal in healthy volunteers. BioRxiv, 2025.2002.2027.640692. doi:10.1101/2025.02.27.640692

Hopkins, A. R., & McQueen, K. J. (2022). Filled/non-filled pairs: An empirical challenge to the integrated information theory of consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition, 97, 103245. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2021.103245

TUS 70%
EEG 50%
TMS 80%
TMS-EEG 80%
MRI 50%
Your ideal research study

Exploring how a sense of connectedness with another affects our electrocortical dynamics and markers of consciousness

Hobbies

Surfing, yoga, travel

What drew you to consciousness

It was love at first lecture! When I started my undergraduate, I wanted to go to law school. I decided to add a philosophy major because I thought the logic and ethics classes would help me in that goal. The first philosophy class I took happened to be a philosophy of mind class, and when the first lecture introduced the neuroscience of consciousness, I was left in awe about the brain and its relation to consciousness. My fate was sealed!

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