The human face as an evolved signalling system. This project will, for the first time, thoroughly investigate the role that facial movement plays in human non-verbal communication. It will uncover the subtle, dynamic signals that are exchanged in almost all everyday social encounters, enriching our understanding of human communication and forming a solid basis for detecting intentions from an analysis of facial movements, with the obvious security benefits that entails.
How Stenolemus Assassin Bugs Crack Spider Codes. This unique study of sophisticated behavioural flexibility and dynamic sensory exploitation in an insect will provide novel insights into how simple cognitive architecture can be used to solve complex problems. These insights are important for the development of artificial intelligence systems. This will be the first study of flexible aggressive mimicry in an insect and will attract considerable international attention, raise the profile of Austra ....How Stenolemus Assassin Bugs Crack Spider Codes. This unique study of sophisticated behavioural flexibility and dynamic sensory exploitation in an insect will provide novel insights into how simple cognitive architecture can be used to solve complex problems. These insights are important for the development of artificial intelligence systems. This will be the first study of flexible aggressive mimicry in an insect and will attract considerable international attention, raise the profile of Australian science and support numerous students. We will make the first use in Australia of state-of-the-art vibration recording and interactive playback techniques. Making these powerful experimental tools available in Australia will enable other many additional innovative lines of research.Read moreRead less
Rudeness, social undermining and interpersonal mistreatment in the workplace. Workers who are mistreated by colleagues, be it thoughtless rudesness or more intentional undermining, are more likely than others to leave their job, suffer from poor emotional and physical health, and engage in increasingly aggressive retalitory actions. By providing greater understanding of the contributing factors and processes involved, this project will inform the development of interventions to reduce these coun ....Rudeness, social undermining and interpersonal mistreatment in the workplace. Workers who are mistreated by colleagues, be it thoughtless rudesness or more intentional undermining, are more likely than others to leave their job, suffer from poor emotional and physical health, and engage in increasingly aggressive retalitory actions. By providing greater understanding of the contributing factors and processes involved, this project will inform the development of interventions to reduce these counterproductive behaviours and their harmful effects. Providing a unique opportunity for widespread documentation of the incidence and nature of interpersonal mistreatment across Australia, New Zealand and Asia, the research will identify types of people or workplaces that are at high risk of being targeted.Read moreRead less
Leadership, social identity and the dynamics of influence in intergroup relations: A new understanding of social continuity and social change. Understanding how social change occurs (or continuity prevails) and the role of leadership in this process is paramount to any social system (e.g. nation, state, organization, team). This project provides a new social psychological understanding of leadership and social change dynamics, including when more radical leaders and social relations emerge, as w ....Leadership, social identity and the dynamics of influence in intergroup relations: A new understanding of social continuity and social change. Understanding how social change occurs (or continuity prevails) and the role of leadership in this process is paramount to any social system (e.g. nation, state, organization, team). This project provides a new social psychological understanding of leadership and social change dynamics, including when more radical leaders and social relations emerge, as well as how different groups become more united around a common cause. Given ethnic, religious, social and political diversity of Australian society, these questions are fundamental to strengthening Australia's social fabric. This research also has cross-disciplinary applications, builds international collaborations, and supports emerging Australian research talent.Read moreRead less
The two faces of leadership: Constructive and destructive leadership and their consequences for employees. This proposal is designed to strengthen Australia’s social and economic fabric by enhancing understanding of the impact of both constructive and destructive leadership on follower and organisational outcomes. This research enables us to identify ways in which organisations can reduce tangible (e.g., low production levels, reduced performance) and intangible losses (e.g., reduced psychologic ....The two faces of leadership: Constructive and destructive leadership and their consequences for employees. This proposal is designed to strengthen Australia’s social and economic fabric by enhancing understanding of the impact of both constructive and destructive leadership on follower and organisational outcomes. This research enables us to identify ways in which organisations can reduce tangible (e.g., low production levels, reduced performance) and intangible losses (e.g., reduced psychological health), which have wider societal implications. Our focus on developing a training program to build constructive leadership and minimise destructive leadership is a key strategy designed to promote a healthier and more productive work environment.Read moreRead less
The high cost of bad bosses: Reactions of employees, co-workers, and employees' partners to abusive supervision. Abusive supervision has serious consequences for individuals and organisations. It is detrimental to employee well-being, reduces productivity, and may even result in litigation. We examine the negative effects of abusive supervision not only on employees but also on those around them: their co-workers and families. Our proposed intervention is a major step towards empowering employee ....The high cost of bad bosses: Reactions of employees, co-workers, and employees' partners to abusive supervision. Abusive supervision has serious consequences for individuals and organisations. It is detrimental to employee well-being, reduces productivity, and may even result in litigation. We examine the negative effects of abusive supervision not only on employees but also on those around them: their co-workers and families. Our proposed intervention is a major step towards empowering employees to effectively manage the aftermath of supervisory mistreatment. The outcomes of this research will demonstrate the need for organisations and governmental agencies to invest more resources in the prevention of these harmful supervisory practices.Read moreRead less
'As-if thinking': an experimental analysis of human reasoning and decision-making. The failure to respond adequately to the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 highlighted the difficulty of sequential decision-making. Responses to such emergencies require detailed contingency plans, necessitating a consideration of all possible outcomes of a situation regardless of their objective probability. This project takes an innovative approach to the experimental analysis of human reasoning and de ....'As-if thinking': an experimental analysis of human reasoning and decision-making. The failure to respond adequately to the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 highlighted the difficulty of sequential decision-making. Responses to such emergencies require detailed contingency plans, necessitating a consideration of all possible outcomes of a situation regardless of their objective probability. This project takes an innovative approach to the experimental analysis of human reasoning and decision-making, with the aim of identifying the mechanisms, factors, and boundary conditions affecting inferences and decisions about uncertain alternatives. The research will inform planning for Australia's readiness to respond to unpredictable events with uncertain outcomes and enhance the reputation of Australian science.Read moreRead less
Human time perception: A crossmodal investigation. This research program investigates time perception in humans in the subsecond range. Time perception is a crucial aspect of cognitive functioning but one that is poorly understood. The subsecond scale is particularly relevant because it is the time-frame for crucial tasks such as motor coordination, speech perception and crossmodal integration. This project examines time in an audiovisual context, exploring the cognitive limits of our ability to ....Human time perception: A crossmodal investigation. This research program investigates time perception in humans in the subsecond range. Time perception is a crucial aspect of cognitive functioning but one that is poorly understood. The subsecond scale is particularly relevant because it is the time-frame for crucial tasks such as motor coordination, speech perception and crossmodal integration. This project examines time in an audiovisual context, exploring the cognitive limits of our ability to keep track of time and testing whether time is encoded as a basic feature. These experiments will further our knowledge of time perception and lead to improved models of how the brain encodes time.Read moreRead less
Audio-visual interactions in human perception. How the brain integrates information from different sensory modalities to form coherent perceptions of the external environment is a challenging question in sensory and cognitive neuroscience. Neurophysiologically, sensory interactions have become well documented over the last decade or so. Complementary perceptual research, however, is lacking. This project seeks to redress the imbalance, using audio-visual interactions as a paradigm. Psychophysica ....Audio-visual interactions in human perception. How the brain integrates information from different sensory modalities to form coherent perceptions of the external environment is a challenging question in sensory and cognitive neuroscience. Neurophysiologically, sensory interactions have become well documented over the last decade or so. Complementary perceptual research, however, is lacking. This project seeks to redress the imbalance, using audio-visual interactions as a paradigm. Psychophysical experiments will explore: (i) audio-visual interactions in perception (sound enhancing vision, vision enhancing hearing); (ii) audio-visual interactions in spatial attention. Neurophysiological evidence, plus very recent psychophysical findings of audio-visual interactions, suggest this will be a rich vein of research.Read moreRead less
Music cognition in infants, children and adults. Music is an important tool for the expression of emotion and transmission of culture. One approach to understanding why music is a human universal is to examine how people process musical structure - the simultaneous and sequential pitch relations among tones of musical pieces. We investigate the way humans acquire implicit and explicit knowledge of such relations and the way exposure to music influences acquisition. Three experiments involving in ....Music cognition in infants, children and adults. Music is an important tool for the expression of emotion and transmission of culture. One approach to understanding why music is a human universal is to examine how people process musical structure - the simultaneous and sequential pitch relations among tones of musical pieces. We investigate the way humans acquire implicit and explicit knowledge of such relations and the way exposure to music influences acquisition. Three experiments involving infants, children and adults will compare formal musical training with incidental learning. Results will increase knowledge of the development of auditory perception and music cognition. Infant perceptual predispositions hold implications for music education.Read moreRead less