 Kathleen Taylor attended the University of Oxford and studied physiology and philosophy . She obtained a Masters degree in psychology from Stirling University , and received her doctorate in computational neuroscience from the University of Oxford . Her postdoctoral research was in <unk> and cognitive neuroscience . She is a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford 's Department of Physiology , Anatomy and Genetics , researching physiology , psychology and the neuroscience of belief . In 2003 Taylor won first prize in both the Times Higher Education / Oxford University Press Science Essay competition and the <unk> Humanities and Social Sciences Writing Prize . She presented her research on brainwashing at the Edinburgh International Science Festival in 2005 . 
