Justin Harris

Justin Harris is a Professor in the School of Psychology at The University of Sydney. He joined in 2002 after postdoctoral research in Italy and at UNSW. His research focuses on neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying learning, memory, and perception, with a particular emphasis on associative learning and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). His work aligns with the Faculty of Science’s research strength in Brain, Behaviour, and Cognition.

Education: PhD in Psychology from the University of New South Wales (1995).

Research Interests
His studies investigate how organisms learn temporal relationships between events, particularly through Pavlovian conditioning. Key areas include:
- Temporal predictiveness of cues for food delivery in rats.
- Extinction dynamics and the role of non-reinforced trials.
- Effects of TMS on sensory perception and motor control, including enhancing visual sensitivity with low-intensity TMS and studying cortical inhibition in motor cortex.
- Cognitive control and behavioral inhibition linked to GABAergic mechanisms.

Grants & Collaborations
Recent grants include:
- Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Projects on extinction, response inhibition, and learning mechanisms.
- Collaborations on TMS and motor cortex dysfunction in problem gamblers.

Labs & Teams
He leads the Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) Lab, exploring TMS applications in brain mapping and cognitive neuroscience.