Dr Mark Williams

BSc(Hons), PhD.

NH & MRC CJ Martin Fellow

Contact details:

I completed my PhD at Monash University in 2002, titled 'An Investigation of the Cognitive Mechanisms underlying the Perception of Facial Affect'. I am currently working as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory on a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) project investigating the brain mechanisms underlying perception of affective stimuli. Our current study assesses how selective attention influences brain activity associated with the processing of affective visual stimuli. From August 2005 to August 2007 I will be working with Prof. Nancy Kanwisher at M.I.T., Cambridge, M.A., USA investigating the brain mechanisms underlying scene perception and then I shall return to the University of Melbourne to continue my work in the Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory.

Research Interests:

• Behavioural Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
• Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory

Professional Associations, Memberships & Awards:

• Society for Neuroscience (U.S.A)
• Cognitive Neuroscience Society (U.S.A)
• Australian Neuroscience Society(Australia)
• Society for Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Neuroscience (Australia)
• Australasian Experimental Psychology Society (Australasia)

Recent Funded Research:

Selected Publications:

Williams, M.A. , McGlone, F., Abbott, D.F., & Mattingley, J.B. (2005). Differential amygdala response to happy and fearful facial expressions depends on selective attention. NeuroImage, 24, 417-425 .

Williams, M.A. , Moss, S.A., Bradshaw, J.L., & Mattingley, JB. (2005). Look at me, I'm smiling: Searching for threatening and non-threatening facial expressions. Visual Cognition , 12(1), 29-50.

Williams, M.A. , Morris, A.P., McGlone, F., Abbott, D.F., & Mattingley, J.B. (2004). Amygdala responses to fearful and happy facial expressions under conditions of binocular suppression. Journal of Neuroscience, 24(12) , 2898-2904.

Williams, M.A. & Mattingley, J.B. (2004). Unconscious perception of facial emotion in parietal extinction. Experimental Brain Research, 154(4), 403-406.

Williams, M.A. , Moss, S.A., & Bradshaw, J.L. (2004). A unique look at face processing: The impact of masked faces on the processing of facial features. Cognition, 91(2), 155-172.

Williams, M.A. , Moss, S.A., Bradshaw, J.L., & Rinehart, N.J. (2004). Processi di generazione casuale di numeri nell' Autismo. The Italian Journal of Disabilities, 4(2), 53-60.

Williams, M.A. , Moss, S.A., Bradshaw, J.L., & Rinehart, N.J. (2002). Random number generation in low functioning individuals with autism: A case for a compromised lateral orbito-frontal circuit. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder, 32(1), 43-47.

PhD Students under Supervision:

Dr Trevor Chong