Anna Christina Nobre (nickname Kia) is a cognitive neuroscientist interested in understanding the principles of the neural systems that support cognitive functions in the human brain. Her current research investigates how neural activity linked to perception and cognition is dynamically modulated according to our memories, task goals, and expectations. She is also interested in understanding how these fine and large-scale regulatory mechanisms develop, and how they are disturbed in disorders of mental health. Her work integrates behavioural methods with a powerful combination of non-invasive techniques to image or stimulate the human brain.
Kia is a native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She obtained her PhD from Yale University (1993, supervised by Greg McCarthy), and completed postdoctoral work at Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School (as Instructor in the Behavioral Neurology Unit, mentored by M Marsel Mesulam). Kia moved to the University of Oxford as a Junior Research Fellow at New College and as McDonnell Pew Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience (1994). She is currently Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Department of Experimental Psychology at University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow at New College, Oxford. She is also Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurology at Northwestern University. Kia directs the Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity; heads the Brain & Cognition Laboratory; acts as Psychology and Neuroscience Delegate for the Oxford University Press (OUP), is a member of the Wellcome Trust Expert Review Group in Neuroscience and Mental Health, and is advisor to the James S. McDonnell Foundation Program in Understanding Human Cognition.