Research Supervisor Connect
The project will use a psychophysiological paradigm to understand how auditory hallucinations arise in schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. It is an opportunity to complete a PhD in an experienced team with a funded NHMRC project.
Associate Professor Anthony Harris.
Westmead - Westmead Institute for Medical Research
Hearing voices is one of the classic symptoms of mental illness. The perception of other people speaking to or about someone, often loudly and insultingly, is both frightening and fascinating. How does this occur? A theory for how voices might arise has been that the voice may be the person’s own words silently produced out of conscious awareness and perceived as external speech. We have been able to develop an objective marker of this inner speech using electroencephalography (EEG), which is the first empirical test of hearing voices. This project, funded by the NHMRC, is examining the specificity and variability of this marker in different clinical populations and extending this into functional magnetic resonance imaging with a simultaneous examination of EEG-fMRI at Westmead Hospital. The PhD candidate would work with me, Professor Tom Whitford (UNSW), Associate Professor Mayuresh Korgaonkar (Westmead Institute for Medical Research) and Dr Carla Haroutonian (Westmead Institute for Medical Research) in exploring the electrophysiology of this phenomena. Depending upon background the PhD could be more weighted towards the clinical interrogation of the EEG or exploring the electrophysiological origins of the voices. The position is based in the Brain Dynamics Centre at the Westmead Institute for Medical Research.
The Westmead Institute for Medical Research (WIMR) is an independent medical research institute based at the Western Sydney (Baludarri) precinct of the University of Sydney. WIMR’s multidisciplinary and translational approach to medical research is targeted to positively improve the health of all Australians and people throughout the world. The personalized medicine emphasis of WIMR reflects the approach of the Brain Dynamics Centre that has been using electrophysiology and functional neuroimaging to individualise diagnosis and treatment. The successful applicant will be able to learn skills in electrophysiology, neuroimaging and the clinical assessment.
The opportunity ID for this research opportunity is 3425