Rate My Professor Olivia Carter

Professor Olivia Carter is a Professor in Psychology in the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences at the University of Melbourne, where she heads the Human Experience Laboratory. Her research investigates the factors that determine the contents and nature of human subjective experiences and the biological processes underpinning them. The lab employs cross-disciplinary approaches to explore conscious experiences in typical and altered states, including those induced by psychedelics, meditation, psychiatric and neurological conditions, and brain stimulation techniques. Collaborations with industry and academic partners assess the societal and neuroethical impacts of new neuroscience drugs and technologies. Carter's career includes a Research Fellow position in Harvard University's Vision Lab from 2005 to 2009, followed by her appointment at the University of Melbourne as Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow from 2009, progressing to Professor. She has held leadership roles as Executive Director of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness and President of the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society.

Carter's influential publications have advanced cognitive neuroscience, particularly in perception, consciousness, and neuromodulation. Key works include 'Quantitative review finds no evidence of cognitive effects in healthy populations from single-session transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)' (Brain Stimulation, 2015), 'Pupil dilation reflects perceptual selection and predicts subsequent stability in perceptual rivalry' (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008), 'Meditation alters perceptual rivalry in Tibetan Buddhist monks' (Current Biology, 2005), 'Using psilocybin to investigate the relationship between attention, working memory, and the serotonin 1A and 2A receptors' (Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2005), 'Modulating the rate and rhythmicity of perceptual rivalry alternations with the mixed 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A agonist psilocybin' (Neuropsychopharmacology, 2005), 'Sensory integration deficits support a dimensional view of psychosis' (Translational Psychiatry, 2017), 'Pupil responses allow communication in locked-in syndrome patients' (Current Biology, 2013), and 'Conscious machines: Defining questions' (Science, 2018). With over 6,900 citations on Google Scholar, her research has shaped debates on brain stimulation efficacy, psychedelic effects on perception, and consciousness metrics, influencing both academic discourse and regulatory considerations in neuroscience.