Protect, prepare and engage: Does extracurricular activity participation offer sustained benefits for youth? Organized extracurricular activities such as sport and music have the potential to promote healthy development and to reduce the levels of risk behaviours in teenagers. However, current research evidence, often based on middle-class youth in the US, is inadequate for making policy recommendations for improvement to the after-school lives of Australian youth. This study will offer insight ....Protect, prepare and engage: Does extracurricular activity participation offer sustained benefits for youth? Organized extracurricular activities such as sport and music have the potential to promote healthy development and to reduce the levels of risk behaviours in teenagers. However, current research evidence, often based on middle-class youth in the US, is inadequate for making policy recommendations for improvement to the after-school lives of Australian youth. This study will offer insight into the long-term benefits of making a diverse selection of organised activities available to Australian teenagers, and will improve our understanding of which aspects of participation are most likely to enhance their social and educational opportunities.Read moreRead less
Developing and testing dynamic models of goal striving in approach and avoidance contexts. This project will examine how people manage competing goals, such as productivity and safety, in a dynamic environment. The results will improve understanding of human motivation and have implications for practice in military, industrial and commercial settings.
Form and motion interactions in human motion perception. Vision works efficiently to detect the motion of both ourselves and other objects by combining motion and pattern information. This project will determine how the visual system achieves this and also create a detailed model that will be directly applicable to areas ranging from clinical neuropsychology to the analysis and design of visual displays.
From fluid intelligence to crystallised expertise: an integrative Bayesian approach. Intelligence is correlated with learning but uncorrelated with most aspects of expertise. Why is this so? Why does the role of intelligence diminish as one becomes more expert at a task? This project examines a broad range of cognitive tasks to provide a concise mathematical description of how intelligence relates to expertise.
Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. This project aims to address diagnostic error in advanced technology systems, by providing a mechanism to assess and improve individual diagnosticians’ performance. Organisations that rely on their employees’ diagnostic skills rarely assess them once the operators become qualified, so there is no basis for interventions that might prevent diagnostic erro ....Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. This project aims to address diagnostic error in advanced technology systems, by providing a mechanism to assess and improve individual diagnosticians’ performance. Organisations that rely on their employees’ diagnostic skills rarely assess them once the operators become qualified, so there is no basis for interventions that might prevent diagnostic errors affecting thousands. This research tests a new method of assessing diagnostic skills based on how skilled operators respond to cues. This project will test how employees’ diagnostic skills change and whether this change corresponds to measures of organisational performance. This research is expected to provide organisations with a tool to pre-empt diagnostic errors that could minimise costs to the economy.Read moreRead less
Attentional and interpretive bias in anxiety: Concurrent expressions of a common selective mechanism, or independent mediators of anxiety vulnerability? The proposed research aims to determine whether two key cognitive biases recently shown to causally influence anxiety vulnerability, one involving selective attention to threat and the other involving the selective imposition of threatening interpretations on ambiguity, arise as concurrent manifestations of a common underlying causal mechanism, ....Attentional and interpretive bias in anxiety: Concurrent expressions of a common selective mechanism, or independent mediators of anxiety vulnerability? The proposed research aims to determine whether two key cognitive biases recently shown to causally influence anxiety vulnerability, one involving selective attention to threat and the other involving the selective imposition of threatening interpretations on ambiguity, arise as concurrent manifestations of a common underlying causal mechanism, or instead represent alternative causal pathways in the mediation of this emotional disposition. Resolution of this issue will significantly advance our theoretical understanding of the mechanisms that govern anxiety vulnerability, while also contributing directly to the development of new cognitive technologies designed to therapeutically modify such vulnerability.Read moreRead less
Integrating Models of Memory for Serial Order. This research aims to compare and integrate computational models of memory for serial order. The applicants have independently developed theoretically novel models, and this collaboration will enable them to combine and strengthen their complementary perspectives.
Much psychologically important processing, for example speech perception and spelling, requires the representation and reproduction of serial order information. Existing models account ....Integrating Models of Memory for Serial Order. This research aims to compare and integrate computational models of memory for serial order. The applicants have independently developed theoretically novel models, and this collaboration will enable them to combine and strengthen their complementary perspectives.
Much psychologically important processing, for example speech perception and spelling, requires the representation and reproduction of serial order information. Existing models account for a wide range of data and collectively represent exciting progress in the understanding of basic mechanisms of memory. Can these models be unified and reconciled? To date, detailed comparisons of models are lacking. This proposal is for the applicants to elaborate and unify their contrasting theoretical approaches.
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Bolstering commitment to positive social change through group-based interaction. Building on an impressive series of preliminary results, this research uses small group interaction to bolster commitment to work towards long-term goals. The methods explored in the proposal have the potential to boost commitment in the public, private, and community sectors by identifying the key factors responsible for sustaining long-term change. The research is relevant for efforts to combat racism, and to incr ....Bolstering commitment to positive social change through group-based interaction. Building on an impressive series of preliminary results, this research uses small group interaction to bolster commitment to work towards long-term goals. The methods explored in the proposal have the potential to boost commitment in the public, private, and community sectors by identifying the key factors responsible for sustaining long-term change. The research is relevant for efforts to combat racism, and to increase community support for international development and environmental sustainability. Benefits are expected both in terms of the promotion of positive attitudes in society and in overcoming apathy within organisations.Read moreRead less
Resolving multi-sensory conflict as we age: audio-visual integration and the role of normal and abnormal sensory decline. Australia has an ageing population. Even the healthiest older individuals undergo some deterioration of vision and hearing, however, these senses are almost invariably studied in isolation. The real world is multisensory. This project will enhance our knowledge of how ageing impacts on the interpretation of visual and auditory information regarding the timing and location of ....Resolving multi-sensory conflict as we age: audio-visual integration and the role of normal and abnormal sensory decline. Australia has an ageing population. Even the healthiest older individuals undergo some deterioration of vision and hearing, however, these senses are almost invariably studied in isolation. The real world is multisensory. This project will enhance our knowledge of how ageing impacts on the interpretation of visual and auditory information regarding the timing and location of objects; essential precursors to many real world tasks, for example: driving, interpreting speech, and hazard avoidance. This knowledge is essential for the optimisation of audio-visual environments for the elderly, and for the development of tools to improve performance in the presence of sensory decline due to age-related eye disease.Read moreRead less
The emotional face. The recognition of emotional facial expressions is essential for successful social functioning. This project will determine how information concerning facial expressions is encoded by the human brain, providing potential insight into situations where this process can fail, such as in old age or autism.