Overview
Tam's research focuses on non-visual (cognitive) effects of environmental light and the impact of light pollution on brain health. He has published papers as a lead author in academic journals including PNAS, Journal of Behavioral Addictions, Translational Psychiatry, Journal of Neuroscience, and Proceedings of the Royal Society B. His teaching interests at Duke Kunshan include Biological Basis of Behavior and Computational Neuroscience.
He received his B.Sc. Psychology (1st Class Honors), M.Sc. Psychological Research Methods (Distinction), and Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience from the University of Nottingham, England. Before joining Duke Kunshan, he was a postdoctoral neuroscientist at the University of Oxford from 2011 to 2023. His current research is funded by Kunshan Shuangchuang Innovative Leading Talent Program and Duke Provost Fund for Duke–Duke Kunshan University Collaboration.
Current Duke Appointments & Affiliations
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at Duke Kunshan University
·
2023 - Present
DKU Faculty
Recent Scholarly Works
Journal article
Journal of behavioral addictions
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May 2026
Animal models utilizing Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning paradigms have advanced our understanding of the mechanisms underlying drug addiction and certain behavioral addiction such as gambling disorder, but so far there is no animal model for digita ...
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Journal article
Journal of behavioral addictions
·
March 2025
Behavioral addictions share symptomatological features with substance addiction. From the associative learning perspective, these characteristics include excessive and unregulated self-administration of sensory and other reinforcers, potentially reflecting ...
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Journal article
Neuron
·
November 2024
Stabilizing new memories requires coordinated neuronal spiking activity during sleep. Hippocampal sharp-wave ripples (SWRs) in the cornu ammonis (CA) region and dentate spikes (DSs) in the dentate gyrus (DG) are prime candidate network events for supportin ...
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Education
University of Nottingham (United Kingdom) ·
2011
Ph.D.
