Rate My Professor Amelia Lockhart

As Unit Coordinator for NEUR334/NEUR534 Neurobiology of Developmental, Cognitive and Affective Disorders in 2023 and 2024 trimesters, Lockhart contributes to teaching in neuroscience at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. She is the corresponding author of the review paper "Mu Desynchronisation in Autistic Individuals: What We Know and Where We Need to Go," published online in February 2023 in the Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (issue September 2024), co-authored with Christopher F. Sharpley and Vicki Bitsika, all from the BBRG at UNE. The paper synthesizes 14 studies from 2005–2022 on mu desynchronisation (MD) in ASD, highlighting inconsistent results—eight studies found differences primarily in observation conditions, while four did not. Variability stems from small sample sizes, lack of demographic controls (e.g., age, sex, handedness), use of screen-based rather than live social stimuli, and theoretical assumptions linking mu directly to mirror neurons. It recommends future studies with larger, diverse samples, real-world social interactions, consideration of genetic factors, and exploration of neurofeedback for social deficit remediation.