The majority of research in the lab falls into six themes:

• Consciousness & Perception

  There are many different ways to study consciousness. Much of the work in the lab investigates perceptual processing and using a range of methods. The goal is to understand the breadth of possible conscious states along with the biological processes that determine and support them.

• Psychopharmacology

  To investigate the role that neurotransmitter systems play in cognitive and sensory processing we have explored the effect of different psychoactive drugs on perception and cognition in healthy people. Neuropharmacological changes are also explored using MRSpectroscopy and pupil-dilation.

• Minds & Technology

  With continual advances in neuroscience and technology, the lab also works with industry partners and academic collaborators to investigate the impact of new drugs/technologies on neurobiological or psychological processing.

• Sensory Processing & Clinical Disorders

  A number of psychiatric and neurological conditions are associated with altered sensory experiences. Using carefully controlled psychophysical methods and brain imaging we investigate the association between specific symptom profiles and changes in sensory and cognitive processing in clinical populations.

• Brain Imaging

  Research conducted by the lab has used EEG, fMRI and MRI spectroscopy to investigate electrical and neurochemical changes in the brain.  The majority of this work involves local and international collaborators with expertise in these methods.

• Neuroscience & Society

  In parallel to the lab's scientific investigation in understanding individual's conscious experience or cognitive function, there is an interest in considering the neuroethical and societal impacts of neuroscientific advances in understanding and manipulating brain function.

• 

• Prof Olivia Carter

  Room 1117, Level 11, Redmond Barry Bldg
  
  +61 3 8344 6372
  
  ocarter@unimelb.edu.au
  
  

  Links

  University of Melbourne Staff Profile

  Google Scholar Profile

  Melbourne Monash Consciousness Research

• Lab Contact Details
  
  + 61 3 8344 4225
  
  Room 1101, Level 11, Redmond Barry Bldg
  
  

Lab members & research interests

Jody Stanley, PhD Student

Research Interests: Visual Perception, Perceptual Rivalry and Psychopharmacology

Contact: email

Rebekah Street, PhD Student

Research Interests: Psychopathology, Sensory processing and cognition

Contact: email

Boki Milinkovic, PhD Student

Research Interests: Computational Neuroscience, Complex Systems, Information Theory & Consciousness Science

Contact: email

Sally Meikle, PhD Student

Research interests: Psychedelics & Cognitive Neuroscience

Contact: email

Gabriel Brandolini, PhD Student

Research interests: Affective Neuroscience and Moral Philosophy

Contact: email

Dr Tim O'Hare, Medical Doctor & PhD Student

Research interests: Perceptions of medical professionals regarding the use of psychedelics

Contact: email

Associated Research Fellows

Dr Jacob Paul

Research interests: Perception, Numerical cognition  & Cognitive Neuroscience

Links: Website,  email

Dr Toby Woods

Research Interests: Cognitive Science, Philosophy of Mind, and Meditation.   To view a presentation of Toby's work click here.

Links: Website, email

Journal Articles

2022

• Frattaroli, N., Geljic, M., Runkowska, D., Darke, H., Reddyhough, Caitlin., Mills, T., Mitchell, M., Hill, R., Carter, O., Sundram. S., (2022) Cognitive and perceptual impairments in schizophrenia extend to other psychotic disorders but not schizotypy. Schizophrenia Research: Cognition 143, 30-8 [PDF]
• Woods, T., Windt, J. & Carter, O. (2022) Evidence synthesis indicates contentless experiences in meditation are neither truly contentless nor identical. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. 1-52 [PDF]
• Woods, T., Windt, J. & Carter, O. (2022) The path to contentless experiences in meditation: An evidence synthesis based on expert texts. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. 1-38 [PDF]

2021

• Dzafic, I., Larsen, K., Darke, H., Pertile, H., Carter, O., Sundram, S & Garrido, M. (2021) Stronger Top-Down and Weaker Bottom-Up Frontotemporal connections during sensory learning are associated with severity of psychotic phenomena Schizophrenia Bulletin 47(4): 1039-47 [PDF]
• Nguyen, B., Malavita, M., Carter, O., McKendrick, A. (2021) Neuroplasticity in older adults revealed by temporary occlusion of one eye, Cortex 143 1-11 [PDF]
• Darke, H., Sundram, S., Cropper, S. & Carter. O (2021) Dynamic face processing impairments are associated with cognitive and positive psychotic symptoms across psychiatric disorders. NPJ Schizophrenia 7: 36 [Link]
• Virathone, L., Nguyen, B., Dobson, F., Carter, O. & McKendrick, A (2021)  Exercise alone impacts short-term adult visual neuroplasticity in a monocular deprivation paradigm Journal of vision 21 (11), 1-17 [Link]
• Perkins, D., et al. (2021) Medicinal Psychedelics for Mental Health and Addiction: Advancing research of an emerging paradigm. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 55(12) 1127-33 [PDF]
• Kanaan, R., Huepe-Artigas, D., Morsy, S. & Carter, O. (2021) Power and pragmatism in functional neurological disorder research. Epilepsy & Behaviour 117: 107801 [PDF]
• Huepe-Artigas, D., Carter, O., Morsy, S. & Kanaan, R. (2021) Clinical differences between patients with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures and functional motor disorder. Epilepsy & Behaviour 114: 107577 [PDF]

2020

• Carter, O., van Swinderen, B., Leopold., Collin, S. & Maier, A. (2020) Perceptual rivalry across animal species. Journal of Comparative Neurology. 528: 3123-33 [PDF]
• Meikle, S., Carter, O. & Bedi, G. (2020) Individual differences in distress, impulsivity, and coping motives for use as predictors of problematic ecstasy use. Addictive Behaviors 108: 106397. 1-7 [PDF]
• Larsen, M., Dzafic, I., Darke, H., Pertile. H., Carter. O., Sundram. S & Garrido, M. (2020) Aberrant connectivity in auditory precision encoding in schizophrenia spectrum disorder and across the continuum of psychotic-like experiences. Schizophrenia Research 222: 185-194 [PDF]
• Woods, T., Windt, J. & Carter, O. (2020) Silence in Shamatha, Transcendental, and Stillness Meditation: An Evidence Synthesis Based on Expert Texts Frontiers in Psychology 11: 1259: 1-19 [PDF] [Supplementary material (documents 1-11) including full expert text extraction tables - Zip File]

2019

• Stanley, J., Forte, J. & Carter, O (2019) Rivalry onset in and around the Fovea: The role of visual field location and eye dominance on perceptual dominance bias Vision 3(4), 51 [PDF]
• Carter, A., Richards, L et al. (2019) A Neuroethics Framework for the Australian Brain Initiative Neuron 101: 365-369 [PDF]
• Chan, Y., Pitchaimuthu, Q., Wu, Q., Carter, O., Egan, G., Badcock, D. & McKendrick, A. (2019) Relating excitatory and inhibitory neurochemicals to visual perception: a magnetic resonance study of occipital cortex between migraine events Plos One  14(7): e0208666 [PDF]
• Thakkar, K., Antinori, A., Carter, O. & Brascamp, J. (2019) Altered short-term neural plasticity related to schizotypal traits: evidence from visual adaptation Schizophrenia Research 207: 48-57 [PDF]
• Darke, H., Cropper, S. & Carter, O (2019) A Novel Dynamic Morphed Stimuli Set to Assess Sensitivity to Identity and Emotion Attributes in Faces Frontiers in Psychology 10: 757 [PDF] [Stimuli Set Zip File]

2018

• Carter, O., Hohwy, J., van Boxtel, J., Lamme, V., Block, N., Koch, C. & Tsuchiya, N (2018) Conscious machines: Defining questions Science 359 (6374): 400 [PDF]
• Bayne, T. & Carter, O. (2018) Dimensions of Consciousness and the psychedelic state  Neuroscience of Consciousness (1) niy008: 1-8 [PDF]
• Liu, P., Forte, J., Sewell, D. & Carter. O. (2018) Cognitive load effects on early visual perceptual processing Attention, Perception and Psychophysics 80(4): 929-950 [PDF]
• Riddell, C., Jensen, C. & Carter, O. (2018) Cognitive Enhancement and Coping in an Australian University Student Sample. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement 2:63-69 [PDF]

2017

• Carter, O., Bennett, D., Nash, T., Arnold, S., Brown, L., Cai, R. Y., Allan, Z., Dluzniak, A., McAnally. K., Burr, D., & Sundram. S. (2017). Sensory integration deficits support a dimensional view of psychosis and are not limited to schizophrenia. Translational Psychiatry 7: e1118. [PDF]
• Pitchaimuthu, K., Wu, Q., Carter, O., Nguyen., B., Ahn, S., Egan., G. & McKendrick, A. (2017) Occipital GABA levels in older adults and their relationship to visual perceptual suppression. Scientific Reports 7: 14231 [URL]
• Antinori, A., Carter, O. & Smillie, L. (2017). Seeing It Both Ways: Openness to Experience and Binocular Rivalry Suppression. Journal of Research in Personality 68: 15-22. [PDF]
• Antinori, A., Smillie, L. & Carter, O. (2017). Personality Measures Link Slower Binocular Rivalry Switch Rates to Higher Levels of Self-Discipline. Front Psychol 7: 2008. [PDF]
• Bryson, A., Carter, O., Norman, T. & Kanaan, R. (2017). 5-HT2A Agonists: A Novel Therapy for Functional Neurological Disorders? Int J Neuropsychopharmacology 20(5): 422-27. [PDF]

2016

• Carter, O., & Forte, J. (2016). Regulate devices for brain stimulation. Nature 533(7602): 179–179. [PDF]
• Bennett, D., Dluzniak, A., Cropper, S. & Partos, T., Sundram, S. & Carter, O. (2016). Selective impairment of global motion integration, but not global form detection, in schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder. Schizophrenia Research: Cognition 3: 11-14. [PDF]
• Howe, P. & Carter, O. (2016). Hallucinations and mental imagery demonstrate top-down effects on visual perception. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 39: e248.[PDF]
• Horvath, J., Carter, O., & Forte, J. (2016). No significant effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) found on simple motor reaction time comparing 15 different simulation protocols. Neuropsychologia 91: 544–52. [PDF]
• Horvath, J., Vogrin, S., Carter, O., Cook, M. & Forte, J. (2016). Effects of a common transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) protocol on motor evoked potentials found to be highly variable within individuals over 9 testing sessions. Experimental Brain Research 234(9): 2629–42. [PDF]

2015

• Horvath, J., Forte, J. & Carter, O. (2015). Quantitative Review Finds No Evidence of Cognitive Effects in Healthy Populations From Single-session Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). Brain Stimulation 8(3): 535–50. [PDF]
• Horvath, J., Forte, J. & Carter, O. (2015). Evidence that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) generates little-to-no reliable neurophysiologic effect beyond MEP amplitude modulation in healthy human subjects: A systematic review: Neuropsychologia 66: 213-36. [PDF]

2014

• Carter, O., Snyder, J., Fung, S., & Rubin, N. (2014). Using ambiguous plaid stimuli to investigate the influence of immediate prior experience on perception. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics 76(1): 133–147. [PDF]
• Horvath, J. C., Carter, O., & Forte, J. D. (2014). Transcranial direct current stimulation: five important issues we aren't discussing (but probably should be). Front Syst Neurosci 8: 2. [PDF]
• O'Connor, D. A., Meade, B., Carter, O., Rossiter, S., & Hester, R. (2014). Behavioral sensitivity to reward is reduced for far objects. Psychological Science 25(1): 271–77. [PDF]

2013

• Stoll, J., Chatelle, C., Carter, O., Koch, C., Laureys, S., & Einhäuser, W. (2013). Pupil responses allow communication in locked-in syndrome patients. Current Biology 23(15): R647–8. [PDF]
• Barutchu, A., Carter, O., Hester, R., & Levy, N. (2013). Strength in cognitive self-regulation. Front Psychol 4: 174, 1-10 [PDF]
• Barutchu, A., Becker, S., Carter, O., Hester, R., & Levy, N. (2013). The Role of Task-Related Learned Representations in Explaining Asymmetries in Task Switching. PLoS One 8(4): 1-10. [PDF]
• Darke, H., Peterman, J. S., Park, S., Sundram, S., & Carter, O. (2013). Are patients with schizophrenia impaired in processing non-emotional features of human faces? Front Psychol 4: 529, 1-8. [PDF]
• Naber, M., Stoll, J., Einhäuser, W., & Carter, O. (2013). How to become a mentalist: reading decisions from a competitor's pupil can be achieved without training but requires instruction. PloS One 8(8): e73302. [PDF]

2011

• Kometer, M., Cahn, B., Andel, D., Carter, O. & Vollenweider, F. (2011) 5-HT2A/1A agonist psilocybin disrupts modal object completion associated with visual hallucinations. Biological Psychiatry 69(5): 399-406.[PDF]
• McKendrick, A., Battista, J., Snyder, J. & Carter, O. (2011) Visual and auditory perceptual rivalry in migraine. Cephalalgia 31(11): 58-69. [PDF]
• Cocchi, L., Toepel, U., De Lucia, M., Martuzzi, R., Wood, S., Carter, O. & Murray, M. (2011) Working memory load improves early stages of independent visual processing. Neuropsychologia 49(1): 92-102. [PDF]
• Cocchi, L., Zalesky, A., Toepel, U., Whitford, J., De Lucia, M., Murray, M. & Carter, O. (2011) Dynamic changes in brain functional connectivity during concurrent dual-task performance. PLoS One 6(11): e28301 1-9. [PDF]
• Stanley, J., Forte, J., Cavanagh, P. & Carter, O. (2011) Onset rivalry: the initial dominance phase is independent of ongoing perceptual alternations. Front Hum Neurosci 5:140. [PDF]
• Stanley, J., Carter, O. & Forte, J. (2011) Color and luminance influence, but can not explain, binocular rivalry onset bias PLoS One 6(5): e18978 1-9. [PDF]

2010

• Einhäuser, W., Koch, C. & Carter, O. (2010) Pupil dilation betrays the timing of decisions. Front Hum Neurosci 4(18): 1-9. [PDF]

2009

• Snyder, J., Carter, O., Hannon, E. & Alain. C. (2009) Adaptation reveals multiple levels of representation in auditory stream segregation. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform 35(4): 1232-44. [PDF]
• Snyder, J., Holder, W. T., Weintraub, D., Carter, O. & Alain, C. (2009) Effects of prior stimulus and prior perception on neural correlates of auditory stream segregation. Psychophysiology 46(6): 1208-15. [PDF]
• Naber, M., Carter, O., & Verstraten, F. (2009) Suppression wave dynamics: visual field anisotropies and inducer strength. Vision Research 49(14): 1805-13. [PDF]
• Cocchi, L., Bosisio, F., Carter, O., Wood, S., Berchtold, A., Conus, P., Orita, A., Debbané, M. & Schenk, F. (2009) Visuospatial working memory deficits and visual pursuit impairments are not directly related in schizophrenia. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 43:766-74. [PDF]

2008

• Einhäuser, W., Stout, J., Koch, C. & Carter, O. (2008) Pupil dilation reflects perceptual selection and predicts subsequent stability in perceptual rivalry. Proc Natl Acad Sci 105(5): 1704-09. [PDF]
• Snyder, J., Carter, O., Lee, S.K., Hannon, E. & Alain. C. (2008) Effects of Context on Auditory Stream Segregation. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform 34(4):1007-16. [PDF]
• Einhäuser, W., Stout, J., Koch, C. & Carter, O. (2008) Reply to Hupé et al.: The predictive correlation of pupil dilation and relative dominance duration in rivalry is not a statistical artifact. Proc Natl Acad Sci 105:E44. [PDF]
• Carter, O., Konkle, T., Wang, Q., Hayward, V. & Moore, C. (2008) Tactile rivalry demonstrated with ambiguous apparent motion quartet. Current Biology18(4):1050-54 [PDF]

2007

• Wittmann, M., Carter, O., Grimberg, U., Hasler, F., Cahn, R., Hell, D., Flohr, H. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2007) Effects of psilocybin on time perception and temporal control of behaviour in humans. J Psychopharmacology 21(1): 50-64. [PDF]
• Carter, O. & Cavanagh, P. (2007) Onset rivalry: Brief presentation isolates an early independent phase of perceptual competition PLoS One 2(4): e343. [PDF]
• Carter, O., Hasler, F., Pettigrew, J.D., Wallis, G., Liu, G. B. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2007) Psilocybin links binocular rivalry switch rate to attention and subjective arousal levels in humans. Psychopharmacology 195: 415-24 [PDF]

2005

• Carter, O., Presti, D., Callistemon, C., Liu, G. B., Ungerer, Y. & Pettigrew, J. D. (2005) Meditation Alters Perceptual Rivalry in Tibetan Buddhist Monks. Current Biology 15(11): R412-R413. [PDF]
• Carter, O. L., Pettigrew, J. D., Hasler, F., Wallis, G. M., Liu, G. B., Hell, D., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2005). Modulating the rate and rhythmicity of perceptual rivalry alternations with the mixed 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A agonist psilocybin. Neuropsychopharmacology 30(6), 1154–62. [PDF]
• Carter, O., Burr, D., Pettigrew, J. D., Wallis, G. M., Hasler, F. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2005) Using psilocybin to investigate the relationship between attention, working memory and the Serotonin1A and 2A receptors. J Cog Neuroscience 17(10): 1497-1508. [PDF]

2004

• Carter, O., Campbell, T., Liu, G. B. & Wallis, G. (2004) Contradictory influence of context on predominance during binocular rivalry. Clin Exp Optom 87 (3): 153-162. [PDF]
• Carter, O., Pettigrew, J., Burr, D., Alais, D., Hasler, F. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2004) Psilocybin impairs high-level but not low-level motion perception. Neuroreport 15 (12): 1947-51.[PDF]

2003

• Carter, O. & Pettigrew, J. (2003) A Common Oscillator for Perceptual Rivalries? Perception 32 (3): 295-305. [PDF]

2002

• Pettigrew, J. & Carter, O. (2002) Vision as motivation: interhemispheric oscillation alters perception. Adv Exp Med Biol 508: 461-9 [PDF]

Book Chapters

• Pettigrew, J. & Carter, O. (2004) Perceptual Rivalry as an Ultradian Oscillation. In: Binocular rivalry. (Eds.) David Alais and Randolph Blake, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA [PDF]

Popular Media

• Carter, O., (2012 ongoing). Babies versus Science (a regular column charting the impact of science on a baby's development and the impact of a baby on a scientist's development). The conversation.
• Carter, O., (2014). The Neuroscience of Gambling The Footy Almanac.
• Carter, O., (2011). Drugs to enhance us will enchant us … especially if there are no side effects. The Conversation.