Members
I do research in three interlocking areas of psychophysiology:
- Brain dynamics: This program explores the mechanism of the genesis of the event-related potential in the ongoing EEG, particularly in terms of the timing of stimulus events in relation to both amplitude and phase of the current narrow-band EEG constituents. A range of time-frequency analyses is involved.
- Orienting Reflex: This program aims to integrate autonomic and central measures of the Orienting Reflex to novel stimuli – the fundamental unit of attentional processing – and to explore the meaning of different profiles of response decrement over stimulus repetitions.
- Normal and atypical development: This program investigates aspects of development using autonomic measures, EEG, and event-related potentials. My current work is focussed on the equiprobable Go/NoGo task in normals (in children; young adults, and the elderly); aspects of AD/HD arousal and functioning are also of interest.
I am interested in the psychological processes of inhibition and attention, as they relate to healthy children and those who show deficits in these areas, such as children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Inhibition can also be thought of in terms of impulse or behavioural control. Generally, my research involves having children or adults complete tasks requiring these processes, with subsequent consideration of their task performance and concurrent brain electrical activity (e.g. EEG and/or event-related potentials, or ERPs) to understand the behaviour in terms of its neural correlates.
Some key areas of interest include:
- The development of inhibition and attention through childhood and into adulthood.
- The role that energetic and other factors play in the effective use of these processes.
- How these processes are best measured via brain electrical activity (EEG and/or ERPs).
- The use of cognitive and neurocognitive training to improve behaviour.
Rodney is a Professor of Health Psychology at the School of Psychology, University of Wollongong, Australia. He obtained degrees in Philosophy and Psychology before completing his PhD in Psychology at the University of Wollongong in 2000, and then worked in the area of cognitive neuroscience as a postdoc at Imperial College, London, and then at Swinburne University, Melbourne.
His research focuses on the delineation of human brain function, particularly as it relates to agents that might affect it (e.g. electromagnetic fields, illicit and medicinal drugs), as well as psychiatry more generally. He has been involved in research on ELF and RF non-ionising radiation since 2000, primarily utilising the electroencephalogram as a means of observing subtle alterations in brain function.
He participates in a variety of national and international RF scientific organisations, was Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bioeffects Research (2004-2011) and is currently Director of the ensuing Australian Centre for Electromagnetic Bioeffects Research (2013-2017), he is a member of the IEEE ICES RF and ELF Standards committees, and is an ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection) Commissioner.
Research interests include:
- Effects of mobile phones on the brain
- Psychophysiology of psychiatric illness
- Psychopharmacology
- Psychophysiology methodology