Dr Robert Hester
BBSc (Hons), PhD (Clinical Neuropsychology)
NHMRC Senior Research Fellow
Contact details:
| email:hesterr@unimelb.edu.au | |
| telephone: +61 3 8344 0222 |
The implementation of cognitive control by the human brain is critical to a range of everyday activities, and the failure of this mechanism is believed to contribute to the symptom profile of a number of clinical conditions. The aim of my research is to examine the psychological processes, and the neural mechanisms underlying them, which signal the requirement for implementation of greater cognitive control. For example, examining (behaviourally and via functional magnetic resonance imaging) 1) error processing (detection and awareness of performance errors) and how the characteristics of this response correlate with adjustments in behaviour; and 2) how reward processes influence executive functions such as inhibition, particularly the impulsiveness for reward seen in drug addiction. My research involves the study of these processes in both healthy adults (across the lifespan) and active drug users.
Research Interests:
Cognitive Neuroscience
Clinical Neuropsychology
Professional Associations, Memberships & Awards:
Cognitive Neuroscience Society
Organisation for Human Brain Mapping
Recent Funded Research:
| Project: | Examining the relationship between error processing, cognitive control and emotion: a cognitive neuroscience approach |
| Year: | 2005 |
| Funded by: | Australian Research Council |
| Project: | The Role of Executive Functions in Cannabis Dependence |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Funded by: | U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse |
| Administered by: | Trinity College Dublin |
Selected Publications:
Book Chapters:
Garavan, H., Hester, R., & Fassbender, C. (2003). The Impact of Individual Differences and Prefrontal Control on Action Monitoring revealed through fMRI. In M.Ullsperger & M. Falkenstein (eds.) Errors, Conflicts, and the Brain. Current Opinions on Performance Monitoring. Leipzig: MPI of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Refereed Journal Article:
Hester, R., Barre, N., Murphy, K., Silk, T., & Mattingley, J. (2008). Human medial frontal cortex activity predicts learning from errors. Cerebral Cortex, 18, 1933-1940.
Hester, R., Barre, N., Mattingley, J., Foxe, J.J., & Garavan, H. (2007). Avoiding another mistake: Error and post-error neural activity associated with adaptive post-error behaviour change. Cognitive and Affective Behavioral Neuroscience, 7(4), 317-326.
Nestor, L., Roberts, G., Garavan, H., & Hester, R. (2008). Deficits in learning and memory: parahippocampal hyperactivity and frontocortical hypoactivity in cannabis users. NeuroImage, 40(3), 1328-39.
Garavan, H., Kaufman, J.N., & Hester, R. (2008). Acute Effects of Cocaine on the Neurobiology of Cognitive Control. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 363(1507), 3267-76.
Hester, R. & Garavan, H., (2009). Neural mechanisms underlying drug-related cue distraction in active cocaine users. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. Accepted for publication on December 5th 2008.
Hester, R. & Garavan, H. (2004). Executive dysfunction in Cocaine addiction: evidence for discordant frontal, cingulate and cerebellar activity. Journal of Neuroscience, 24(49), 11017-11022.
Hester, R., Foxe, J., Molholm, S., Shpaner, M. & Garavan, H. (2005). Neural mechanisms involved in error processing: A comparison of errors made with and without awareness. NeuroImage, 27(3), 602-608.
Hester, R., Dixon, V., & Garavan, H. (2006). A consistent attentional bias for drug-related material in active cocaine users across word and picture versions of the emotional Stroop task. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 81(3), 251-257.
Hester, R., Simoes-Franklin, C., & Garavan, H. (2007). Post-error behaviour in active cocaine users: poor awareness of errors in the presence of intact performance adjustments. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32(9), 1974-1984.
Hester, R., Murphy, K., Foxe, J., Foxe, D.M., Javitt, D. & Garavan, H. (2004). Predicting Success: Patterns of cortical activation and deactivation prior to response inhibition. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16(5), 776-785.
Hester, R., Fassbender, C., & Garavan, H. (2004). Individual differences in error processing: A review and reanalysis of three event-related fMRI studies using the GO/NOGO task. Cerebral Cortex, 14(9), 966-973.
Hester, R., Murphy, K., & Garavan, H. (2004). Beyond Common Resources: The Cortical Basis for Resolving Task Interference. NeuroImage, 23(1), 202-212
Bellgrove, M., Hester, R., & Garavan, H. (2004). The Functional Neuroanatomical Correlates of Response Variability: Evidence from a Response Inhibition Task. Neuropsychologia, 42(14), 1910-6 .