Rate My Professor Max Coltheart

Max Coltheart is Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Science at Macquarie University, holding an emeritus position in the School of Psychological Sciences and affiliated with the Macquarie University Centre for Reading. Born in 1939, he completed a BA in 1961, MA in 1962, and PhD in 1968 at the University of Sydney. Macquarie University awarded him a DSc in 2001 and an honorary LLD in 2010. His career spans positions at the University of Sydney as lecturer (1965-1966), Monash University as lecturer and senior lecturer (1967-1969), University of Waterloo as assistant and associate professor (1969-1972), University of Reading as reader (1972-1975), and Birkbeck College, University of London as professor of psychology (1975-1987). At Macquarie University, he served as professor of psychology from 1987 to 2007, head of the Department of Psychology from 1992 to 1997, director of the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science from 2000 to 2009, professor of cognitive science from 2007 to 2009, and emeritus professor of cognitive science from 2010 to present. He was an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow from 2002 to 2007.

Coltheart's research specializations include the cognitive neuropsychology and computational psychology of reading and cognitive neuropsychiatry, particularly delusional belief. He co-developed the dual-route cascaded model of visual word recognition and reading aloud (Coltheart, Rastle, Perry, Langdon, & Ziegler, 2001) and the two-factor theory of monothematic delusions (Davies, Coltheart, Langdon, & Breen, 2001). Other notable publications encompass 'What has functional neuroimaging told us about the mind (so far)?' (2006), 'Cognitive neuropsychiatry and delusional belief' (2007), and 'Acquired dyslexias and the computational modelling of reading' (2006). With over 69,000 citations on Google Scholar, his work has profoundly influenced models of reading and delusional disorders. Major awards and honors include Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (2001), Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (1988), Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (2002), Member of the Order of Australia (2010) for services to children with learning difficulties, CSIRO Eureka Prize for Scientific Leadership (2007), and Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Australian Psychological Society (2003). He has held presidencies of the Experimental Psychological Society (1985-1987), Australian Cognitive Science Society (1991), and Learning Difficulties Australia (2008-2009), and delivered distinguished lectures such as the Bartlett Lecturer (2005).