Academy Fellow

Richard Clark is a psychologist and presently joint Clinic Director of Brain Health Clinics in Adelaide, South Australia, a practice that specializes in neurotherapeutic interventions for the treatment of psychological disorders. He holds the title of Emeritus Professor in the School of Psychology at Flinders University.

Professor Clark’s research work has been in the field of neuropsychology and the related field of cognitive neuroscience. This work has been characterised by the application of multimodal measures of brain structure and function. In particular, he has applied synergistic approaches to neuroimaging of the spatial and temporal dynamics of cortical networks, including high resolution topographic EEG and ERP recordings and MRI-based morphometry. His technical developments have been complemented by his innovative use of experimental paradigms that have drawn upon an expertise in psychometrics, psychophysiology, psychopharmacology, and psychopathology. His work in the early 1990’s was amongst the first to demonstrate brain-computer interfacing to external devices using consciously generated electrical fields from the anterior cingulate.

His early work in the 1980’s on the role of catecholamines in the control of human attention and on measures of working memory and executive function in head injury provided some of the first evidence of localized and distributed brain changes in post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychopathologies, including panic disorder, attention deficit disorder, and schizophrenia. Subsequently he played a significant role in the development of the first international integrative database of brain and cognitive function. Over the last ten years he has applied his expertise to clinical work in the clinical field of neurotherapy and been instrumental in the development of clinical practice standards for Australia and the creation of a national accreditation authority.

In addition to his primary research, Richard Clark has contributed to the advancement of cognitive neuroscience including advocacy in the community and extensive service as an office bearer in national and international societies. He has been a frequent contributor in the media, enhancing public appreciation of the potential benefits of advances in neuroscience and its applications.

• Director, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory and Clinic, Flinders University (1991 )
• Chair, cross-Faculty Cognitive Science Management Committee, Flinders University (1994 - 2000)
• Director of Studies, Cognitive Science program, Flinders University (1994 - 2000)
• President, Australasian Society for Psychophysiology (1998 - 2000)
• Member of International Scientific Board, Brain Resource Ltd (2001 - present)
• Head, National ADHD Consortium (2002 - 2008)
• Member, University Research Higher Degrees Committee, Flinders University (2003 - 2005)
• Chair, Higher Degrees Committee, Faculty of Social Sciences, Flinders University (2003 - 2005)
• Member, Faculty Planning Advisory Committee, Faculty of Social Sciences, Flinders University (2004 - 2005)
• Chair, Education Committee, South Australian Neuroscience Institute (2004 - 2007)
• Professor, School of Psychology, Flinders University (2006 - )
• Patron of the Brain Injury Network of South Australia (2005 - present)
• Head of School of Psychology, Flinders University (2006 - 2009)
• Joint Clinical Director, Brain Health Clinics, Adelaide, South Australia (2009 - )
• Board member, Boifeedback Certification International Alliance (Australia) (2012 - )
• Board member, Applied Neuroscience Society of Australasia (2013- )

• The Anna Florence Booth Prize in Social Psychology (Adelaide 1980)
• The Smith Kline & French Prize in Neorosciences (Flinders 1981)
• Early Career Award, Australian Psychological Society (Division of Scientific Affairs 1990)

Nerida Saunders, Russell Downham, Bulent Turman, Juri Kropotov, Richard Clark, Rustam Yumash & Arielle Szatmary (2014): Working memory training with tDCS improves behavioral and neurophysiological symptoms in pilot group with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and with poor working memory, Neurocase: The Neural Basis of Cognition, DOI: 10.1080/13554794.2014.890727

Tsang, TW, Kohn, MR, Efron, D, Clark, SD, Clark, CR, Lamb, C and Williams, LM (2012) Anxiety in young people with ADHD: Clinical and self-report outcomes. Journal of Attention Disorders. 1087054712446830

Perera S, Crewther D, Croft R, Keage H, Hermens D, et al. (2012) Comorbid Externalising Behaviour in AD/HD: Evidence for a Distinct Pathological Entity in Adolescence. PLoS ONE 7(9): e41407. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0041407.

Hall, T., Galletly, C., Clark, C.R., Veltmeyer, M., Metzger, L.J., Gilbertson, M.W., Orr, S.P.,. Pitman, R.K. & McFarlane, A. (2012) The relationship between Hippocampal asymmetry and working memory processing in combat-related PTSD -- a monozygotic twin study. Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders, 2(21), doi:10.1186/2045-5380-2-21.

Whitham, EM, Fitzgibbon, SP, Lewis, TW, Pope, KJ, DeLosAngeles, D, Clark, CR, Lillie, P, Hardy, A, Gandevia, SC, Willoughby JO. (2012) Visual experiences during paralysis Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Gatt JM, Korgaonkar M, Schofield PR, Harris A, Clark CR, Oakley K, Ram K, Michaelson H, Yap S, Stanners M, Wise M, Williams LM. (2012). The TWIN-E project in emotional wellbeing: Study protocol and preliminary heritability results across four MRI and DTI measures. Twin Research and Human Genetics 15: 419-441. Special Issue: The Genetics of Brain Imaging Phenotypes.

Tsang, T.W., Kohn, M.R., Hermens, D.F. Clarke, S. D., Clark, C. R., Efron, D., Cranswick, N., Lamb C. and Williams, L. M. (2011). A randomized controlled trial investigation of a non-stimulant in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ACTION): Rationale and design. Trials, 12:77

Grieve SM, Korgaonkar MS, Clark CR, Williams LM. (2011) Regional heterogeneity in limbic maturational changes: Evidence from integrating cortical thickness, volumetric and diffusion tensor imaging measures.. NeuroImage 55: 868–879

Clark, CR, Galletly, CA, Ash, DJ, Moores, KA, Penrose, R, McFarlane, AC (2009), Evidence-based medicine evaluation of electrophysiological studies of the Anxiety Disorders, in Clinical EEG and Neuroscience, 40(2), pp 84 - 112

Shaw, ME, Moores, KA, Clark, CR, McFarlane, AC, Strother, SC, Bryant, RA, Brown, GC & Taylor, JD (2009), Functional connectivity reveals inefficient working memory systems in post-traumatic stress disorder, in Psychiatric Research: Neuroimaging, 172: pp 235 - 241

Falconer, EM, Felmingham, KL, Williams LM, Gordon, E, Clark, CR, Bryant, RA (2008), Developing an integrated brain, behavior and biological response prodile in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in Journal of Integrative Neuroscience, 7, pp 439 - 456

Keage, HAD, Clark, CR, Hermens, DF, Williams, LM, Kohn, MR, Clark, S, Lamb, C, Crewther, D & Gordon, G (2008), Putative iomarker of working memory systems development during childhood and adolescence, in NeuroReport, 19(2), pp 179 - 201

Moores, KA, Clark, CR, McFarlane, AC, Brown, GC, Puce, A & Taylor, DJ (2008), Abnormal recruitment or working memory updating networks during maintence of trauma-neural information in post-traumatic streess discorder (PTSD), in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 163(2), pp 165 - 170

Rowe, DS, Cooper, NJ, Liddell, BJ, Clark, CR, Gordon, E & Williams, LM (2007), Brain structure and function correlates of general and social cognition, in Journal of Integrative Neuroscience, 6(1), pp 35 - 74

Clark, CR, Paul, RH, Williams, LM, Arns, M, Fallahpour, K, Handmer, C & Gordon, G (2006), Standardized assessment of cognitive functioning across the full age-span using an automated touchscreen battery, in Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 21, pp 449 - 467