ORCID Profile
0000-0001-6668-3121
Current Organisation
Australian National University
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Personality, Abilities and Assessment | Sensory Processes, Perception and Performance | Psychology | Computer-Human Interaction
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-12-2017
DOI: 10.3758/S13428-016-0813-2
Abstract: In everyday social interactions, people's facial expressions sometimes reflect genuine emotion (e.g., anger in response to a misbehaving child) and sometimes do not (e.g., smiling for a school photo). There is increasing theoretical interest in this distinction, but little is known about perceived emotion genuineness for existing facial expression databases. We present a new method for rating perceived genuineness using a neutral-midpoint scale (-7 = completely fake 0 = don't know +7 = completely genuine) that, unlike previous methods, provides data on both relative and absolute perceptions. Normative ratings from typically developing adults for five emotions (anger, disgust, fear, sadness, and happiness) provide three key contributions. First, the widely used Pictures of Facial Affect (PoFA i.e., "the Ekman faces") and the Radboud Faces Database (RaFD) are typically perceived as not showing genuine emotion. Also, in the only published set for which the actual emotional states of the displayers are known (via self-report the McLellan faces), percepts of emotion genuineness often do not match actual emotion genuineness. Second, we provide genuine/fake norms for 558 faces from several sources (PoFA, RaFD, KDEF, Gur, FacePlace, McLellan, News media), including a list of 143 stimuli that are event-elicited (rather than posed) and, congruently, perceived as reflecting genuine emotion. Third, using the norms we develop sets of perceived-as-genuine (from event-elicited sources) and perceived-as-fake (from posed sources) stimuli, matched on sex, viewpoint, eye-gaze direction, and rated intensity. We also outline the many types of research questions that these norms and stimulus sets could be used to answer.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2010
DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2011.613372
Abstract: Holistic processing and face space coding are widely considered primary perceptual mechanisms behind good face recognition. Here, however, we present the case of S.P., a developmental prosopagnosic who demonstrated severe impairments in face memory and face perception, yet showed normal holistic processing and face space coding. Across three composite experiments, S.P. showed normal-strength holistic processing for upright faces and no composite effect for inverted faces. Across five aftereffect experiments, S.P. showed normal-sized face aftereffects, which derived normally from face space rather than shape-generic mechanisms. The case of S.P. implies: (a) normal holistic processing and face space coding can be insufficient for good face recognition even when present in combination and (b) the focus of recent literature on holistic processing and face space should be expanded to include other potential face processing mechanisms (e.g., part-based processing). Our article also highlights the importance of internal task reliability in drawing inferences from single-case studies.
Publisher: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
Date: 19-06-2019
DOI: 10.1167/19.6.18
Abstract: Previous studies of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) report impaired facial expression recognition even with enlarged face images. Here, we test potential benefits of caricaturing (exaggerating how the expression's shape differs from neutral) as an image enhancement procedure targeted at mid- to high-level cortical vision. Experiment 1 provides proof-of-concept using normal vision observers shown blurred images as a partial simulation of AMD. Caricaturing significantly improved expression recognition (happy, sad, anger, disgust, fear, surprise) by ∼4%-5% across young adults and older adults (mean age 73 years) two different severities of blur high, medium, and low intensity of the original expression and all intermediate accuracy levels (impaired but still above chance). Experiment 2 tested AMD patients, running 19 eyes monocularly (from 12 patients, 67-94 years) covering a wide range of vision loss (acuities 6/7.5 to poorer than 6/360). With faces pre-enlarged, recognition approached ceiling and was only slightly worse than matched controls for high- and medium-intensity expressions. For low-intensity expressions, recognition of veridical expressions remained impaired and was significantly improved with caricaturing across all levels of vision loss by 5.8%. Overall, caricaturing benefits emerged when improvement was most needed, that is, when initial recognition of uncaricatured expressions was impaired.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 05-05-2015
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 27-11-2021
Abstract: Gaze direction is a powerful social cue, and there is considerable evidence that we preferentially direct our attentional resources to gaze-congruent locations. While a number of in idual differences have been claimed to modulate gaze-cueing effects (e.g., trait anxiety), the modulation of gaze cueing for different emotional expressions of the cue has not been investigated in social anxiety, which is characterised by a range of attentional biases for stimuli perceived to be socially threatening. Therefore, in this study, we examined whether social anxiety modulates gaze-cueing effects for angry, fearful, and neutral expressions, while controlling for other in idual-differences variables that may modulate gaze cueing: trait anxiety, depression, and autistic-like traits. In a s le of 100 female participants, we obtained large and reliable gaze-cueing effects however, these effects were not modulated by social anxiety, or by any of the other in idual-differences variables. These findings attest to the social importance of gaze cueing, and also call into question the replicability of in idual differences in the effect.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2021
Publisher: AMPCo
Date: 26-04-2021
DOI: 10.5694/MJA2.51043
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-2014
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE12787
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2022
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2023
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-06-2023
DOI: 10.1111/PSYP.14363
Abstract: The N1, Tb, and P2 components of the event‐related potential (ERP) are thought to reflect the sequential processing of auditory stimuli in the human brain. Despite their extensive use in biological, cognitive, and clinical neuroscience, there are no guidelines for how to appropriately power ERP studies using these components. In the present study, we investigated how the number of trials, number of participants, effect magnitude, and study design influenced statistical power. Using Monte Carlo simulations of ERP data from a passive listening task, we determined the probability of finding a statistically significant effect in 58,900 experiments repeated 1,000 times each. We found that as the number of trials, number of participants, and effect magnitude increased, so did statistical power. We also found that increasing the number of trials had a bigger effect on statistical power for within‐subject designs than for between‐subject designs, and that within‐subject designs required a smaller number of trials and participants to provide the same level of statistical power for a given effect magnitude than between‐subject designs. These results show that it is important to carefully consider these factors when designing ERP studies, rather than relying on tradition or anecdotal evidence. To improve the robustness and reproducibility of ERP research, we have built an online statistical power calculator ( bradleynjack.shinyapps.io/ErpPowerCalculator ), which we hope will allow researchers to estimate the statistical power of previous studies, as well as help them design appropriately‐powered studies in the future.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 31-12-2018
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 10-2021
DOI: 10.1037/EMO0001018
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-2009
DOI: 10.1080/02643290903343149
Abstract: The Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT) and Cambridge Face Perception Test (CFPT) have provided the first theoretically strong clinical tests for prosopagnosia based on novel rather than famous faces. Here, we assess the extent to which norms for these tasks must take into account ageing, sex, and testing country. Data were from Australians aged 18 to 88 years (N = 240 for CFMT 128 for CFPT) and young adult Israelis (N = 49 for CFMT). Participants were unselected for face recognition ability most were university educated. The diagnosis cut-off for prosopagnosia (2 SDs poorer than mean) was affected by age, participant-stimulus ethnic match (within Caucasians), and sex for middle-aged and older adults on the CFPT. We also report internal reliability, correlation between face memory and face perception, correlations with intelligence-related measures, correlation with self-report, distribution shape for the CFMT, and prevalence of developmental prosopagnosia.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 08-2021
DOI: 10.1037/EMO0000883
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 23-03-2022
DOI: 10.3389/FPSYG.2022.749093
Abstract: We examine how prior mental health predicts hopes and how hopes predict subsequent mental health, testing hypotheses in a longitudinal study with an Australian nation-wide adult s le regarding mental health consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak during its initial stage. Quota s ling was used to select a s le representative of the adult Australian population in terms of age groups, gender, and geographical location. Mental health measures were selected to include those with the best psychometric properties. Hypotheses were tested using generalized linear models with random intercepts, with the type of GLM determined by the nature of the dependent variable. Greater anxiety, depression, distress, and loneliness predict less hope, but impaired quality of life and stress positively predict hopes of gaining new skills. Distress and loneliness predict hopes for social connectedness and an improved society, suggesting that predictors of hope depend on what is hoped for. These findings suggest the need for more nuanced theories of hope. Greater hopes for societal improvement predict lower anxiety, depression, distress, and impaired quality of life, but greater hopes for skills and better mental health predict higher levels of these covariates. Moreover, when relevant prior psychological states are more intense, the impact of hope state declines. These findings indicate that the consequences of hope are heterogeneous, and suggest a possible explanation for the seemingly inconsistent therapeutic effectiveness of raising hope.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-06-2023
DOI: 10.1002/CASP.2713
Abstract: For people with social anxiety, ongoing exposure to feared situations is crucial for both treatment and the prevention of relapse. The COVID‐19 pandemic—with prolonged, often enforced, reductions in people's social contact—reduced such exposure and may thus have exacerbated social anxiety symptoms. In this three‐wave longitudinal study ( N = 212) we explored whether people's membership in multiple groups could protect against anticipatory anxiety for, and avoidance of, social situations. In line with our predictions, pre‐pandemic multiple group memberships reduced anticipatory anxiety and avoidance at Waves 1 and 2 (June and August 2020). Controlling for participants' pre‐pandemic multiple group memberships, maintained group memberships (from pre‐pandemic to Wave 2) predicted lower Wave 2 anticipatory anxiety and avoidance, and lower Wave 2 anticipatory anxiety predicted reduced social anxiety symptoms at Wave 3. These findings are discussed with an emphasis on how social identity theorising and cognitive behavioural approaches to social anxiety can be successfully integrated.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 08-2023
DOI: 10.1037/EMO0001176
Abstract: In this foundational study, we test display rules for a set of 24 theoretically derived emotions to discover the key emotional dimensions underlying this important construct. Participants (S le 1 [exploratory factor analysis, EFA]
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 06-2019
DOI: 10.1037/XAP0000180
Abstract: There are multiple well-established situations in which humans' face recognition performance is poor, including for low-resolution images, other-race faces, and in older adult observers. Here we show that caricaturing faces-that is, exaggerating their appearance away from an average face-can provide a useful applied method for improving face recognition across all these circumstances. We employ a face-name learning task offering a number of methodological advantages (e.g., valid comparison of the size of the caricature improvement across conditions differing in overall accuracy). Across six experiments, we (a) extend previous evidence that caricaturing can improve recognition of low-resolution (blurred) faces (b) show for the first time that caricaturing improves recognition and perception of other-race faces and (c) show for the first time that caricaturing improves recognition in observers across the whole adult life span (testing older adults, M age = 71 years). In size, caricature benefits were at least as large where natural face recognition is poor (other-race, low resolution, older adults) as for the naturally best situation (own-race high-resolution faces in young adults). We discuss potential for practical applicability to improving face recognition in low-vision patients (age-related macular degeneration, bionic eye), security settings (police, passport control), eyewitness testimony, and prosopagnosia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2011
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-09-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-019-49202-0
Abstract: Poor recognition of other-race faces is ubiquitous around the world. We resolve a longstanding contradiction in the literature concerning whether interracial social contact improves the other-race effect. For the first time, we measure the age at which contact was experienced. Taking advantage of unusual demographics allowing dissociation of childhood from adult contact, results show sufficient childhood contact eliminated poor other-race recognition altogether (confirming inter-country adoption studies). Critically, however, the developmental window for easy acquisition of other-race faces closed by approximately 12 years of age and social contact as an adult — even over several years and involving many other-race friends — produced no improvement. Theoretically, this pattern of developmental change in plasticity mirrors that found in language, suggesting a shared origin grounded in the functional importance of both skills to social communication. Practically, results imply that, where parents wish to ensure their offspring develop the perceptual skills needed to recognise other-race people easily, childhood experience should be encouraged: just as an English-speaking person who moves to France as a child (but not an adult) can easily become a native speaker of French, we can easily become “native recognisers” of other-race faces via natural social exposure obtained in childhood, but not later.
Publisher: American Society of Hematology
Date: 24-04-2014
DOI: 10.1182/BLOOD-2013-02-486944
Abstract: Transcription and enhancer profiling reveal cell type–specific regulome architectures and transcription factor networks in conventional and regulatory T cells.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-05-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2012
DOI: 10.1016/J.NEUBIOREV.2012.08.006
Abstract: The present meta-analysis aimed to clarify whether deficits in emotion recognition in psychopathy are restricted to certain emotions and modalities or whether they are more pervasive. We also attempted to assess the influence of other important variables: age, and the affective factor of psychopathy. A systematic search of electronic databases and a subsequent manual search identified 26 studies that included 29 experiments (N = 1376) involving six emotion categories (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise) across three modalities (facial, vocal, postural). Meta-analyses found evidence of pervasive impairments across modalities (facial and vocal) with significant deficits evident for several emotions (i.e., not only fear and sadness) in both adults and children/adolescents. These results are consistent with recent theorizing that the amygdala, which is believed to be dysfunctional in psychopathy, has a broad role in emotion processing. We discuss limitations of the available data that restrict the ability of meta-analysis to consider the influence of age and separate the sub-factors of psychopathy, highlighting important directions for future research.
Publisher: The Australian National University
Date: 2015
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-11-2021
DOI: 10.3758/S13428-021-01705-3
Abstract: For decades, psychology has relied on highly standardized images to understand how people respond to faces. Many of these stimuli are rigorously generated and supported by excellent normative data as such, they have played an important role in the development of face science. However, there is now clear evidence that testing with ambient images (i.e., naturalistic images "in the wild") and including expressions that are spontaneous can lead to new and important insights. To precisely quantify the extent to which our current knowledge base has relied on standardized and posed stimuli, we systematically surveyed the face stimuli used in 12 key journals in this field across 2000-2020 (N = 3374 articles). Although a small number of posed expression databases continue to dominate the literature, the use of spontaneous expressions seems to be increasing. However, there has been no increase in the use of ambient or dynamic stimuli over time. The vast majority of articles have used highly standardized and nonmoving pictures of faces. An emerging trend is that virtual faces are being used as stand-ins for human faces in research. Overall, the results of the present survey highlight that there has been a significant imbalance in favor of standardized face stimuli. We argue that psychology would benefit from a more balanced approach because ambient and spontaneous stimuli have much to offer. We advocate a cognitive ethological approach that involves studying face processing in natural settings as well as the lab, incorporating more stimuli from "the wild".
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 26-12-2019
DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2018.1561421
Abstract: We investigate perception of, and responses to, facial expression authenticity for the first time in social anxiety, testing genuine and polite smiles. Experiment 1 (
Publisher: American Society of Hematology
Date: 24-04-2014
DOI: 10.1182/BLOOD-2013-02-484188
Abstract: In-depth regulome analysis of human monocyte subsets, including transcription and enhancer profiling. Description of metabolomic differences in human monocyte subsets.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-2014
DOI: 10.1038/NATURE13182
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 2017
DOI: 10.1037/XGE0000249
Abstract: We report the existence of a previously undescribed group of people, namely in iduals who are so poor at recognition of other-race faces that they meet criteria for clinical-level impairment (i.e., they are "face-blind" for other-race faces). Testing 550 participants, and using the well-validated Cambridge Face Memory Test for diagnosing face blindness, results show the rate of other-race face blindness to be nontrivial, specifically 8.1% of Caucasians and Asians raised in majority own-race countries. Results also show risk factors for other-race face blindness to include: a lack of interracial contact and being at the lower end of the normal range of general face recognition ability (i.e., even for own-race faces) but not applying less in iduating effort to other-race than own-race faces. Findings provide a potential resolution of contradictory evidence concerning the importance of the other-race effect (ORE), by explaining how it is possible for the mean ORE to be modest in size (suggesting a genuine but minor problem), and simultaneously for in iduals to suffer major functional consequences in the real world (e.g., eyewitness misidentification of other-race offenders leading to wrongful imprisonment). Findings imply that, in legal settings, evaluating an eyewitness's chance of having made an other-race misidentification requires information about the underlying face recognition abilities of the in idual witness. Additionally, analogy with prosopagnosia (inability to recognize even own-race faces) suggests everyday social interactions with other-race people, such as those between colleagues in the workplace, will be seriously impacted by the ORE in some people. (PsycINFO Database Record
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 03-2019
DOI: 10.1037/PER0000301
Abstract: In everyday life, other peoples' distress is sometimes genuine (e.g., real sadness) and sometimes pretended (e.g., feigned sadness aimed at manipulating others). Here, we present the first study of how psychopathic traits affect responses to genuine versus posed distress. Using facial expression stimuli and testing in idual differences across the general population (
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 04-2018
DOI: 10.1037/XHP0000463
Abstract: There are large, reliable in idual differences in the recognition of facial expressions of emotion across the general population. The sources of this variation are not yet known. We investigated the contribution of a key face perception mechanism, adaptive coding, which calibrates perception to optimize discrimination within the current perceptual "diet." We expected that a facial expression system that readily recalibrates might boost sensitivity to variation among facial expressions, thereby enhancing recognition ability. We measured adaptive coding strength with an established facial expression aftereffect task and measured facial expression recognition ability with 3 tasks optimized for the assessment of in idual differences. As expected, expression recognition ability was positively associated with the strength of facial expression aftereffects. We also asked whether in idual variation in affective factors might contribute to expression recognition ability, given that clinical levels of such traits have previously been linked to ability. Expression recognition ability was negatively associated with self-reported anxiety but not with depression, mood, or degree of autism-like or empathetic traits. Finally, we showed that the perceptual factor of adaptive coding contributes to variation in expression recognition ability independently of affective factors. (PsycINFO Database Record
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 12-01-2023
DOI: 10.1037/EMO0001204
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2009
DOI: 10.1016/J.CLINPH.2009.09.006
Abstract: To examine the feasibility of a multifocal visual evoked potential (mfVEP) binocularly, using a variant of the multifocal frequency-doubling (FD) pattern-electroretinogram (MFP). Stimuli were presented in both monocular and dichoptic conditions at eight visual field locations/eye. The incommensurate stimulus frequencies ranged from 15.45 to 21.51 Hz. Five stimulus conditions differing in spatial frequency and orientation were examined for three viewing conditions. The resulting 15 stimulus conditions were examined in 16 normal subjects who repeated all conditions twice. Several significant independent effects were identified. Response litudes were reduced for dichoptic viewing (by 0.85 times, p<4 x 10(-11)) offset by increases in responses for between eye differences of one octave of spatial frequency: lower (1.15 times, 0.1 cpd) higher (1.29 times, 0.4 cpd), both p<1.8 x 10(-7). Crossed orientations produced significant effects upon response phase (p=0.023) but not litude (p=0.062). The results indicated that dichoptic evoked potentials using multifocal frequency-doubling illusion stimuli are practical. The use of crossed orientation, or differing spatial frequencies, in the two eyes reduced binocular interactions. The results indicate a method wherein several spatial or temporal and frequencies per visual field region can be tested in reasonable time using a multifocal VEP using spatial frequency-doubling stimuli.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-04-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-07-2015
DOI: 10.1111/DESC.12203
Abstract: Most developmental studies of face emotion processing show faces in isolation, in the absence of any broader context. Here we investigate two types of interactions between expression and threat contexts. First, in adults, following of another person's direction of social attention is increased when that person shows fear and the context requires vigilance for danger. We investigate whether this also occurs in children. Using a Posner-style eye-gaze cueing paradigm, we tested whether children would show greater gaze-cueing from fearful than happy expressions when the task was to be vigilant for possible dangerous animals. Testing across the 8-12-year-old age range, we found this fear priority effect was absent in the youngest children but developed to reach adult levels in the oldest children. However, even the oldest children were unable to sustain fear-prioritization when the onset of the target was delayed. Second, we addressed the development of 'threat bias' - namely faster identification of dangerous animals than safe animals - in the social context provided by expressive faces. In our non-anxious s les (i.e. with typical-population levels of anxiety), adults showed a threat bias regardless of the expression or looking direction of the just-seen cue face whereas 8-12-year-olds only showed a threat bias when the just-seen cue face displayed fear. Overall, the results argue that some, but not all, aspects of expression-context interactions are mature by 12 years of age.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 08-2022
DOI: 10.1037/EMO0000772
Abstract: The Duchenne marker-crow's feet wrinkles at the corner of the eyes-has a reputation for signaling genuine positive emotion in smiles. Here, we test whether this facial action might be better conceptualized as a marker of emotional intensity, rather than genuineness per se, and examine its perceptual outcomes beyond smiling, in sad expressions. For smiles, we found ratings of emotional intensity (how happy a face is) were unable to fully account for the effect of Duchenne status (present vs. absent) on ratings of emotion genuineness. The Duchenne marker made a unique direct contribution to the perceived genuineness of smiles, supporting its reputation for signaling genuine emotion in smiling. In contrast, across 4 experiments, we found Duchenne sad expressions were not rated as any more genuine or sincere than non-Duchenne ones. The Duchenne marker did however make sad expressions look sadder and more negative, just like it made smiles look happier and more positive. Together, these findings argue the Duchenne marker has an important role in sad as well as smiling expressions, but is interpreted differently in sad expressions (contributions to intensity only) compared with smiles (emotion genuineness independently of intensity). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 19-05-2023
DOI: 10.1111/BJOP.12508
Abstract: What happens to everyday social interactions when other‐race recognition fails? Here, we provide the first formal investigation of this question. We gave East Asian international students ( N = 89) a questionnaire concerning their experiences of the other‐race effect (ORE) in Australia, and a laboratory test of their objective other‐race face recognition deficit using the Cambridge Face Memory Test (CFMT). As a ‘perpetrator’ of the ORE, participants reported that their problems telling apart Caucasian people contributed significantly to difficulties socializing with them. Moreover, the severity of this problem correlated with their ORE on the CFMT. As a ‘victim’ of the ORE, participants reported that Caucasians' problems telling them apart also contributed to difficulties socializing. Further, 81% of participants had been confused with other Asians by a Caucasian authority figure (e.g., university tutor, workplace boss), resulting in varying levels of upset/difficulty. When compared to previously established contributors to international students' high rates of social isolation, ORE‐related problems were perceived as equally important as the language barrier and only moderately less important than cultural differences. We conclude that the real‐world impact of the ORE extends beyond previously identified specialized settings (eyewitness testimony, security), to common everyday situations experienced by all humans.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 25-02-2015
DOI: 10.1189/JLB.6TA1014-477RR
Abstract: The generation of myeloid cells from their progenitors is regulated at the level of transcription by combinatorial control of key transcription factors influencing cell-fate choice. To unravel the global dynamics of this process at the transcript level, we generated transcription profiles for 91 human cell types of myeloid origin by use of CAGE profiling. The CAGE sequencing of these s les has allowed us to investigate erse aspects of transcription control during myelopoiesis, such as identification of novel transcription factors, miRNAs, and noncoding RNAs specific to the myeloid lineage. We further reconstructed a transcription regulatory network by clustering coexpressed transcripts and associating them with enriched cis-regulatory motifs. With the use of the bidirectional expression as a proxy for enhancers, we predicted over 2000 novel enhancers, including an enhancer 38 kb downstream of IRF8 and an intronic enhancer in the KIT gene locus. Finally, we highlighted relevance of these data to dissect transcription dynamics during progressive maturation of granulocyte precursors. A multifaceted analysis of the myeloid transcriptome is made available (www.myeloidome.roslin.ed.ac.uk). This high-quality dataset provides a powerful resource to study transcriptional regulation during myelopoiesis and to infer the likely functions of unannotated genes in human innate immunity.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2022
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1192/BJO.2020.170
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has seen an increase in depression and anxiety among those with and without a history of mental illness. Commonly used forms of psychological therapy improve mental health by teaching psychotherapeutic strategies that assist people to better manage their symptoms and cope with life stressors. Minimal research to date has explored their application or value in managing mental health during significant broad-scale public health crises. To determine which psychotherapeutic strategies people who have previously received therapy use to manage their distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether the use and perceived helpfulness of these strategies has an effect on symptoms of depression and anxiety. Data ( N = 857) was drawn from multiple waves of a representative longitudinal study of the effects of COVID-19 on the mental health of Australian adults, which includes measures of anxiety, depression and experiences with psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic strategies. Previous engagement in therapy with psychotherapeutic strategies had a protective effect on depressive but not anxiety symptoms. Common and helpful strategies used by respondents were exercise, mindfulness and breathing exercises. Using mindfulness and perceiving it to be helpful was associated with lower levels of depression and anxiety symptoms. No other strategies were associated with improved mental health. Prior knowledge of psychotherapeutic strategies may play a role in managing mental health during unprecedented public health events such as a global pandemic. There may be value in promoting these techniques more widely in the community to manage general distress during such times.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 08-2023
DOI: 10.1037/EMO0001165
Abstract: Recent work has cast doubt on whether the strength of motivation (strength of avoidance or approach tendencies) experienced while viewing emotion-eliciting pictures is dissociable from felt valence (negative versus positive). The present study extended this work by testing specific discrete emotions (amusement, anger, awe, desire, sadness). Previous work has proposed separate motivational direction (avoid versus approach) from valence. In Study 1, participants (
Publisher: JMIR Publications Inc.
Date: 08-02-2023
DOI: 10.2196/43798
Abstract: Social distancing requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic saw a rapid increase in the delivery of telehealth consultations as an alternative to face-to-face health care services. The aims of this study were to assess the use and acceptability of telehealth during the early stages of the pandemic and identify factors associated with telehealth avoidance during this period. Data were obtained from waves 4 and 7 of a longitudinal survey designed to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health and behavior of a representative s le of Australian adults. Participants reported on their use or avoidance of telehealth during the assessment period, as well as the mode of telehealth used and acceptability. Approximately 30% of participants reported using telehealth during the assessment periods, with the most common telehealth modality being the telephone. Acceptance of telehealth was generally high and was higher among those who used telehealth compared with those who did not. Approximately 18% of participants reported avoiding health care due to telehealth. Across assessment waves, avoidance was associated with younger age, speaking a language other than or in addition to English, having a current medical diagnosis, and lower levels of telehealth acceptability. While most participants in this study were accepting of telehealth services, there remain barriers to use, especially among those from particular sociodemographic groups. At a population level, avoidance of health services in nearly one in five adults may have considerable long-term impacts on morbidity and potentially mortality. Targeted efforts to promote engagement with telehealth services are critical if these adverse outcomes are to be avoided, particularly during periods when access to face-to-face services may be limited.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-09-2023
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-08-2017
Abstract: In the FANTOM5 project, transcription initiation events across the human and mouse genomes were mapped at a single base-pair resolution and their frequencies were monitored by CAGE (Cap Analysis of Gene Expression) coupled with single-molecule sequencing. Approximately three thousands of s les, consisting of a variety of primary cells, tissues, cell lines, and time series s les during cell activation and development, were subjected to a uniform pipeline of CAGE data production. The analysis pipeline started by measuring RNA extracts to assess their quality, and continued to CAGE library production by using a robotic or a manual workflow, single molecule sequencing, and computational processing to generate frequencies of transcription initiation. Resulting data represents the consequence of transcriptional regulation in each analyzed state of mammalian cells. Non-overlapping peaks over the CAGE profiles, approximately 200,000 and 150,000 peaks for the human and mouse genomes, were identified and annotated to provide precise location of known promoters as well as novel ones, and to quantify their activities.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-04-2017
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-016-0645-4
Abstract: Most studies of emotion abilities in disruptive children focus on emotion expression recognition. This study compared 74 children aged 4-8 years with ODD to 45 comparison children (33 healthy 12 with an anxiety disorder) on behaviourally assessed measures of emotion perception, emotion perspective-taking, knowledge of emotions causes and understanding ambivalent emotions and on parent-reported cognitive and affective empathy. Adjusting for child's sex, age and expressive language ODD children showed a paucity in attributing causes to emotions but no other deficits relative to the comparison groups. ODD boys with high levels of callous-unemotional traits (CU) (n = 22) showed deficits relative to low CU ODD boys (n = 25) in emotion perspective-taking and in understanding ambivalent emotions. Low CU ODD boys did not differ from the healthy typically developing boys (n = 12). Impairments in emotion perceptive-taking and understanding mixed emotions in ODD boys are associated with the presence of a high level of CU.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 07-2015
DOI: 10.1037/PER0000108
Abstract: Three theoretical explanations for the affective facet of psychopathy were tested in in iduals with high levels of callous unemotional (CU) traits. Theory 1 (Blair) proposes specific difficulties in processing others' distress (particularly fear). Theory 2 (Dadds) argues for lack of attention to the eyes of faces. Theory 3 (Newman) proposes enhanced selective attention. The theories make contrasting predictions about how CU traits would affect cueing of attention from eye-gaze direction in distressed (i.e., fearful) faces eye-gaze direction in nondistressed (i.e., happy, neutral) faces and nonsocial stimuli (arrows). High CU adults (n = 33) showed reduced attentional cueing compared with low CU adults (n = 75) equally across all conditions (eye-gaze in distressed and nondistressed faces, arrows). The high CU group's ability to suppress following of eye-gaze emerged with practice while the low CU group showed no such reduction in gaze-cueing with practice. Overall accuracy and RTs were not different for the low and high CU groups indicating equivalent task engagement. Results support an enhanced selective attention account-consistent with Newman and colleagues' Response Modulation Hypothesis--in which high CU in iduals are able to suppress goal-irrelevant social and nonsocial information. The current study also provides novel evidence regarding the nature of gaze-following by tracking practice effects across blocks. While supporting the common assumption that following of gaze is typically mandatory, the results also imply this can be modified by in idual differences in personality.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 06-10-2020
DOI: 10.3389/FPSYT.2020.579985
Abstract: There is minimal knowledge about the impact of large-scale epidemics on community mental health, particularly during the acute phase. This gap in knowledge means we are critically ill-equipped to support communities as they face the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to provide data urgently needed to inform government policy and resource allocation now and in other future crises. The study was the first to survey a representative s le from the Australian population at the early acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Depression, anxiety, and psychological wellbeing were measured with well-validated scales (PHQ-9, GAD-7, WHO-5). Using linear regression, we tested for associations between mental health and exposure to COVID-19, impacts of COVID-19 on work and social functioning, and socio-demographic factors. Depression and anxiety symptoms were substantively elevated relative to usual population data, including for in iduals with no existing mental health diagnosis. Exposure to COVID-19 had minimal association with mental health outcomes. Recent exposure to the Australian bushfires was also unrelated to depression and anxiety, although bushfire smoke exposure correlated with reduced psychological wellbeing. In contrast, pandemic-induced impairments in work and social functioning were strongly associated with elevated depression and anxiety symptoms, as well as decreased psychological wellbeing. Financial distress due to the pandemic, rather than job loss per se , was also a key correlate of poorer mental health. These findings suggest that minimizing disruption to work and social functioning, and increasing access to mental health services in the community, are important policy goals to minimize pandemic-related impacts on mental health and wellbeing. Innovative and creative strategies are needed to meet these community needs while continuing to enact vital public health strategies to control the spread of COVID-19.
Start Date: 2022
End Date: 2024
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2022
End Date: 2022
Funder: Australian National University
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2022
End Date: 2022
Funder: Australian National University College of Health and Medicine
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 07-2022
End Date: 06-2025
Amount: $444,914.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity