Very young adolescents and substance use: community and family vulnerabilities and healthy developmental transitions. This research will examine how families and communities protect very young children from early alcohol and tobacco use. The findings will lead to new prevention policies and programs that better meet the needs of vulnerable communities. This project will strengthen collaborations with leading international research centres in this area.
Deadly Start: Enabling Preschoolers’ Literacy, Numeracy and Wellbeing. This project aims to test the effectiveness of a new preschool oral language, literacy, numeracy and wellbeing intervention for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian students using powerful interdisciplinary approaches.
The project generates new knowledge about enabling preschool children to have a deadly start to literacy, numeracy and wellbeing, capitalising on research-derived interventions.
Expected outcomes include ....Deadly Start: Enabling Preschoolers’ Literacy, Numeracy and Wellbeing. This project aims to test the effectiveness of a new preschool oral language, literacy, numeracy and wellbeing intervention for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian students using powerful interdisciplinary approaches.
The project generates new knowledge about enabling preschool children to have a deadly start to literacy, numeracy and wellbeing, capitalising on research-derived interventions.
Expected outcomes include salient intervention and measures and advances in preschool education that enable a deadly start.
The benefits encompass identifying effective intervention and drivers that support a deadly start to literacy and numeracy, and having adaptive motivation, new theory and developmentally appropriate measures.Read moreRead less
Pattern recognition in animals and machines: using machine learning to reveal cues central to the identification of individuals. The power to recognise individuals of a species requires significant image and pattern discrimination abilities. Yet, individual recognition has been found in a huge range of species, from humans to invertebrates demonstrating its importance for social interactions. The project will investigate this ability in lower vertebrates (fish, with no visual cortex), so as to u ....Pattern recognition in animals and machines: using machine learning to reveal cues central to the identification of individuals. The power to recognise individuals of a species requires significant image and pattern discrimination abilities. Yet, individual recognition has been found in a huge range of species, from humans to invertebrates demonstrating its importance for social interactions. The project will investigate this ability in lower vertebrates (fish, with no visual cortex), so as to understand the underlying mechanisms of pattern discrimination. The project will also test how robust this ability is during changes in water quality (elevated carbon dioxide levels and increased turbidity). The outcomes will further our knowledge base in lower vertebrate vision and evolution, and also have implications for human vision, image analysis, and artificial vision.Read moreRead less
Attentional asymmetries for navigation in healthy and clinical groups. This project plans to investigate how differences in attentional capacity between the left and right sides of the brain affect the ability to walk or manoeuvre vehicles between obstacles. To navigate our environment and avoid obstacles, we need to attend to stimuli that are important and ignore those that are not. Unfortunately, the brain’s attentional capacity is limited, which can result in errors and collisions. Using the ....Attentional asymmetries for navigation in healthy and clinical groups. This project plans to investigate how differences in attentional capacity between the left and right sides of the brain affect the ability to walk or manoeuvre vehicles between obstacles. To navigate our environment and avoid obstacles, we need to attend to stimuli that are important and ignore those that are not. Unfortunately, the brain’s attentional capacity is limited, which can result in errors and collisions. Using the techniques of cognitive neuroscience, the project aims to provide a better understanding of the cognitive and neural mechanisms that govern attention in an applied setting. It expects to identify the factors that exacerbate lapses in attention and collisions. The effect of everyday impediments such as mobile phones, alcohol and fatigue will be investigated together with means of minimising these attentional lapses and improving safety.Read moreRead less
Non-medical use of prescription stimulants by Australian university students: attitudes, prevalence of, and motivations for use. This study will provide a comprehensive understanding of student non-medical use of prescription stimulants. The findings will inform initiatives to prevent the abuse and misuse of pharmaceuticals, protect health and reduce the cost associated with inappropriate use of medicines.
Pathways to social cohesion and social change: opinion-based groups and the dynamic formation of identities. This project will update the understanding of political conflict by exploring groups based around shared opinions. It will show that groups are likely to be more successful in their political campaigns when they tie their causes to national and other positive identifies.
A social psychology of affective disturbance. We are in the midst of a depression and anxiety epidemic that cannot be explained by focusing on individual experiences alone. We desperately need to understand the cultural contributors to depression and anxiety, thereby providing insight into the epidemiology of these conditions. Drawing on experimental studies, longitudinal sampling of daily emotional experiences, and multi-national data, the research will show how cultural contexts may exacerbate ....A social psychology of affective disturbance. We are in the midst of a depression and anxiety epidemic that cannot be explained by focusing on individual experiences alone. We desperately need to understand the cultural contributors to depression and anxiety, thereby providing insight into the epidemiology of these conditions. Drawing on experimental studies, longitudinal sampling of daily emotional experiences, and multi-national data, the research will show how cultural contexts may exacerbate individual-level affective disturbance and demonstrate the processes through which occurs. The findings will make a timely and much needed contribution to public policy decisions and preventive health care.Read moreRead less
Collective Self-Regulation in Complex Social-Ecological Systems. This project plans to investigate the necessary supports and drivers for self-regulation for environmental purposes. Sustainable human uses of natural resources are central to meeting contemporary challenges to humanity such as deforestation and climate change. However, the complexity of the social and ecological interdependences tests the human capacity for collective self-regulation – ordinary citizens’ regulation of their own be ....Collective Self-Regulation in Complex Social-Ecological Systems. This project plans to investigate the necessary supports and drivers for self-regulation for environmental purposes. Sustainable human uses of natural resources are central to meeting contemporary challenges to humanity such as deforestation and climate change. However, the complexity of the social and ecological interdependences tests the human capacity for collective self-regulation – ordinary citizens’ regulation of their own behaviours for a greater good. The project aims to investigate the importance of establishing a common ground for collective self-regulation, the process of common ground formation in complex social-ecological systems, and how best to achieve this critical condition for sustainable ecological practices with a view to informing public discourse and policy-making for sustainable living.Read moreRead less
Antisocial behaviour in young Australian adults: Social and economic influences. Antisocial behaviour is prevalent in Australia and imposes large social and economic costs. Currently, much of the crime prevention research has been conducted overseas. The findings of this study will provide important insights into the development of antisocial behaviour from childhood and adolescence through into young adulthood in the Australian context. By better understanding how factors such as unemployment, ....Antisocial behaviour in young Australian adults: Social and economic influences. Antisocial behaviour is prevalent in Australia and imposes large social and economic costs. Currently, much of the crime prevention research has been conducted overseas. The findings of this study will provide important insights into the development of antisocial behaviour from childhood and adolescence through into young adulthood in the Australian context. By better understanding how factors such as unemployment, alcohol-related entertainment, and sporting participation influence antisocial behaviour in young adulthood, prevention and early intervention programs can be developed to target specific subgroups. In this way spending on criminal justice systems can be reduced and a safer, more harmonious community can be fostered.Read moreRead less
Examining the relationship between error processing, cognitive control and emotion: a cognitive neuroscience approach. The proposed research aims to contribute to current scientific thinking on how the processing of errors influences self-monitoring and cognitive performance. The ability to monitor one's cognitive performance deteriorates with normal ageing, and is particularly affected in a range of clinical conditions, where it is a reliable predictor of a poor prognostic outcome. This project ....Examining the relationship between error processing, cognitive control and emotion: a cognitive neuroscience approach. The proposed research aims to contribute to current scientific thinking on how the processing of errors influences self-monitoring and cognitive performance. The ability to monitor one's cognitive performance deteriorates with normal ageing, and is particularly affected in a range of clinical conditions, where it is a reliable predictor of a poor prognostic outcome. This project aims to clarify understanding of the cognitive and neural processes underlying self-monitoring, as an important first step to improving rehabilitation and management methods for age-related impairments such as Alzheimer's disease, and prominent mental health conditions such as schizophrenia.Read moreRead less