Research within this theme investigates the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying aberrant experiences, unusual perceptual phenomena, and disorders / disturbances of consciousness.

A central focus is understanding how brain processes shape conscious experience, and how alterations in these processes can give rise to unusual or distorted perceptions including those of ourselves and the world around us. Examples include visual distortions, illusions, and hallucinations; and voice-hearing experiences ranging from benign phenomena to distressing auditory verbal hallucinations. Research spans neurotypical populations and patient groups, with related work also examining how emotional and cognitive processes influence embodiment, and dissociative conscious experience including the out-of-body experience and depersonalisation. Methods used across the theme include experimental psychophysics and behavioural testing, electroencephalography (EEG), the latest in optimised and computer-modelled non-invasive electric brain stimulation, psychophysiological measures, questionnaire-based assessments, and computational neuroscience.