Mental Toughness: What Makes a Champion? "Mental toughness" is claimed to be what makes champion athletes; separates winners from losers and those who buckle under pressure. Despite widespread use in sport (business, military, etc.) there exist no well-validated mental toughness measures. In collaboration with Australian Institute of Sport and Westfields Sports High School, we will develop a multidimensional, hierarchical measure of mental toughness, test it across gender, age, and different spo ....Mental Toughness: What Makes a Champion? "Mental toughness" is claimed to be what makes champion athletes; separates winners from losers and those who buckle under pressure. Despite widespread use in sport (business, military, etc.) there exist no well-validated mental toughness measures. In collaboration with Australian Institute of Sport and Westfields Sports High School, we will develop a multidimensional, hierarchical measure of mental toughness, test it across gender, age, and different sports, validate it in relation to relevant outcomes, and evaluate its growth/development in athletes varying in age and sporting development. Potential benefits include improved talent identification, counselling, self-concept, coping strategies, coaching, benchmarking, tracking, and athletic performance.Read moreRead less
Modelling expressiveness and generation of affect in baroque and romantic music. The aim of the project is to develop a computational model of expression in music. The model will be able to distinguish between baroque and romantic expressive devices and enable the analysis of what makes one performance more expressive than another. Self-reported responses to the expressive and technical dimensions of music will be measured as compositions unfold. Time series analysis will be used to explain ho ....Modelling expressiveness and generation of affect in baroque and romantic music. The aim of the project is to develop a computational model of expression in music. The model will be able to distinguish between baroque and romantic expressive devices and enable the analysis of what makes one performance more expressive than another. Self-reported responses to the expressive and technical dimensions of music will be measured as compositions unfold. Time series analysis will be used to explain how changes in technical features can be used to explain and predict expressive response. The model will allow us to understand performance techniques and to gain new insights into the dynamic nature of music.Read moreRead less
A new kind of dynamics for psychology. In order to remain efficient in real-world decisions, people must dynamically monitor and adjust their cognitive processes. This project aims to develop innovative methods and analyses for dynamics in experimental psychology, using standard paradigms in which task parameters are dynamically manipulated. The development of models of dynamic behaviour will advance the science of psychology and serve as a practical measurement tool for individuals.
The Development of Speed Skill. The power function has been the unquestioned law linking practice to human response time for 30 years and is the basis for all current theories of human skill acquisition. Our recent work has overturned the power law in favour of an exponential law. This project uses a combination of computer simulation and experimentation with both adults and children to determine the generality of the exponential law and to develop theory that can accommodate it. Developmental ....The Development of Speed Skill. The power function has been the unquestioned law linking practice to human response time for 30 years and is the basis for all current theories of human skill acquisition. Our recent work has overturned the power law in favour of an exponential law. This project uses a combination of computer simulation and experimentation with both adults and children to determine the generality of the exponential law and to develop theory that can accommodate it. Developmental and practice effects will be compared in four fundamental cognitive tasks and new estimation methodologies tested, resulting in quantifiable improvements in education and training practices.Read moreRead less
The Millennium Child: New Frontiers in Understanding the Adaptability of Children and Young People. Australian children and young people experience changes and challenges at micro (eg. educational, psychological, social) and macro (eg. climate change, globalisation) levels. Successfully resolving these relies to a large degree on their ability to adapt. At a broader level, for Australia to compete and innovate on a global scale and to most profitably fulfil its educational, social, economic, and ....The Millennium Child: New Frontiers in Understanding the Adaptability of Children and Young People. Australian children and young people experience changes and challenges at micro (eg. educational, psychological, social) and macro (eg. climate change, globalisation) levels. Successfully resolving these relies to a large degree on their ability to adapt. At a broader level, for Australia to compete and innovate on a global scale and to most profitably fulfil its educational, social, economic, and cultural potential, it is essential that it nurtures children and young people who can adapt to and for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st Century. The Millennium Child Project scopes and progresses the concept of adaptability and answers important and complex questions relevant to a nation's capacity to adapt and thrive.Read moreRead less
How we recognise the orientation of objects: a combined neurophyschological / eye movement study. Neurophyschological evidence suggests that different visual attributes of objects (e.g. shape vs orientation in space) are processed by independent brain systems. This project aims to investigate this issue systematically, using both neurological patients and normal volunteers. By using sensitive experimental measures, including detailed analyses of subject's eye movements while they view objects, ....How we recognise the orientation of objects: a combined neurophyschological / eye movement study. Neurophyschological evidence suggests that different visual attributes of objects (e.g. shape vs orientation in space) are processed by independent brain systems. This project aims to investigate this issue systematically, using both neurological patients and normal volunteers. By using sensitive experimental measures, including detailed analyses of subject's eye movements while they view objects, this research will provide valuable insights into how the visual system gathers and encodes information about different object attributes.Read moreRead less
Experimental Studies of the effects of the research process on participant behaviour. A key national challenge for social science is to develop and evaluate cost effective health behaviour interventions that may have relatively small effects at the individual level, but which, when aggregated across a large population, produce a measurable benefit. The trials required to evaluate such interventions are typically subject to biases arising from study design and measurement of behaviour, and theref ....Experimental Studies of the effects of the research process on participant behaviour. A key national challenge for social science is to develop and evaluate cost effective health behaviour interventions that may have relatively small effects at the individual level, but which, when aggregated across a large population, produce a measurable benefit. The trials required to evaluate such interventions are typically subject to biases arising from study design and measurement of behaviour, and therefore result in poor estimates of efficacy and cost-effectiveness. By quantifying the extent to which aspects of the research process affect estimates of intervention efficacy, efforts to address national health priorities such as physical inactivity, smoking, hazardous drinking, and poor nutrition will be enhanced.Read moreRead less
Youth off the streets (YOTS): Rehabilitating at-risk youth and young offenders through responsive service learning programs. Young people involved in substance abuse and delinquency are a major economic and social cost to Australia. Although numerous crime prevention strategies have been developed for working with at-risk, homeless, substance abusing and delinquent young people, few have been adequately evaluated and outcomes are poor. Almost none reflect contemporary knowledge in theories of a ....Youth off the streets (YOTS): Rehabilitating at-risk youth and young offenders through responsive service learning programs. Young people involved in substance abuse and delinquency are a major economic and social cost to Australia. Although numerous crime prevention strategies have been developed for working with at-risk, homeless, substance abusing and delinquent young people, few have been adequately evaluated and outcomes are poor. Almost none reflect contemporary knowledge in theories of adolescent development. This research will develop an innovative intervention based on Service Learning relevant to other diversion programs within Juvenile Justice and an industry model for long-term sustainable program evaluation. We will also develop an intervention model relevant to other organisations with similar aims and budgetary constraints.Read moreRead less
Maximising Real Educational ACHievement - The REACH Project: Integrating Motivation and Self-concept to Optimise Students Academic Outcomes at School. The OECD reports that academic motivation and self-concept underlie young people's educational success, affect their long-term health and wellbeing, and also impact on economic outcomes at a national level. Through enhancing students' academic motivation and self-concept, the Real Educational ACHievement (REACH) Project will develop and sustain ac ....Maximising Real Educational ACHievement - The REACH Project: Integrating Motivation and Self-concept to Optimise Students Academic Outcomes at School. The OECD reports that academic motivation and self-concept underlie young people's educational success, affect their long-term health and wellbeing, and also impact on economic outcomes at a national level. Through enhancing students' academic motivation and self-concept, the Real Educational ACHievement (REACH) Project will develop and sustain achievement that encompasses not only academic grades but also enhanced engagement, satisfaction in learning, attendance, participation, and aspirations. REACH will guide and support young Australians to achieve to their potential and through this Australian society as a whole will gain substantial educational, economic, labour market, health, and social benefits.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354611
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$30,000.00
Summary
Management and Consumer Decision Making Network. This network brings together a multi-disciplinary research group to enhance frontier science in managerial/consumer decision making and choice behaviour. Our focus will on using our interaction to develop normative and descriptive theory by operationalising theories and methods from a mixture of disciplines. Individual/group decisions/choices underlie many aggregate societal phenomena like election outcomes, consumer demand, technology adoption, ....Management and Consumer Decision Making Network. This network brings together a multi-disciplinary research group to enhance frontier science in managerial/consumer decision making and choice behaviour. Our focus will on using our interaction to develop normative and descriptive theory by operationalising theories and methods from a mixture of disciplines. Individual/group decisions/choices underlie many aggregate societal phenomena like election outcomes, consumer demand, technology adoption, etc. Better understanding of such processes will lead to better models, better forecasts and better decision outcomes for Australia, and smarter use of information and data; something that can only come from a multi-disciplinary interaction of theory and method.Read moreRead less