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Interests:
I am a practising child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Aberdeen and Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital in Scotland. I also have a long-standing interest in evolutionary biology. After medical school and some time as a junior doctor, I took some time out to study Lyme disease and tick ecology in wild mouse populations up on the West Coast of Scotland. I have continued to mix interests in evolutionary biology and psychiatry, and since moving to Aberdeen have also developed an interest in neuroimaging. The interests have converged on the ‘mirror neuron’ hypothesis of autism, that has lain at the centre of my research interests for the past 10 years.
Research Themes:
child and adolescent psychiatry; evolutionary biology and psychiatry; neuroimaging; ‘mirror neuron’ hypothesis of autism;
Key Publications:
Williams JHG , Waiter GD, Perra O, Perrett DI, Whiten A. (2005) An FMRI Study of Joint Attention Experience. NeuroImage 25: 133-140
Williams JHG (2008) Self-Other Relations in Social Development and Autism: Multiple Roles for Mirror Neurons and Other Brain Bases. Autism Research 1: 73-90
Williams JHG, Waiter GD, Gilchrist A, Perrett DI, Murray AD, Whiten A. (2006) Neural mechanisms of imitation and ‘Mirror Neuron’ functioning in autistic spectrum disorder. Neuropsychologia. 44 (4): 610-21
Collaborators:
Nouchine Hadjikhani International
Shirley Fecteu International
Mark Mon-Williams United Kingdom
Rob McIntosh Scotland
David Perrett Scotland
Gordon Waiter Scotland