Feeling and thinking: affect, implicit social cognition and behaviour. Although affect plays a major role in human affairs, the psychological mechanisms linking affect to thinking and behaviour remain incompletely understood. This project will investigate the influence of affective states on implicit cognitive processes and subsequent social behaviours. The project aims to develop and to test an innovative information processing theory linking affect to implicit cognition, and apply new experime ....Feeling and thinking: affect, implicit social cognition and behaviour. Although affect plays a major role in human affairs, the psychological mechanisms linking affect to thinking and behaviour remain incompletely understood. This project will investigate the influence of affective states on implicit cognitive processes and subsequent social behaviours. The project aims to develop and to test an innovative information processing theory linking affect to implicit cognition, and apply new experimental methods to measure the cognitive and behavioural consequences of affect. Studies will also explore the applied consequences of affect infusion for real-life social behaviours with expected implications for health, clinical, organisational, and educational outcomes.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101138
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$437,623.00
Summary
Habit formation and change in ageing: Developing a neuropsychological model. This project aims to investigate the neurobiological and neuropsychological determinants of habit formation and change in the context of ageing, by combining cutting-edge techniques in psychology, behavioural neuroscience and neuroimaging. This research expects to generate new knowledge in the area of automatic habits and behaviour change, by investigating how these processes are affected in ageing using an interdiscipl ....Habit formation and change in ageing: Developing a neuropsychological model. This project aims to investigate the neurobiological and neuropsychological determinants of habit formation and change in the context of ageing, by combining cutting-edge techniques in psychology, behavioural neuroscience and neuroimaging. This research expects to generate new knowledge in the area of automatic habits and behaviour change, by investigating how these processes are affected in ageing using an interdisciplinary approach. Expected outcomes include a new, comprehensive model of habit formation and change in ageing. This should provide significant benefits, as it will lay the foundation for future habit-based behaviour change interventions to support older people to age well and productively.Read moreRead less
Square Eyes or All Lies? Understanding Children's Exposure to Screens. This project will examine Australian parents’ number one concern about their children’s health and behaviour – their interactions with electronic screens. Current screen time guidelines are based on low-quality evidence and lack the nuance required to address this complex issue. This project will use innovative technology to resolve these weaknesses. Wearable cameras will measure what children are doing on screens, and where, ....Square Eyes or All Lies? Understanding Children's Exposure to Screens. This project will examine Australian parents’ number one concern about their children’s health and behaviour – their interactions with electronic screens. Current screen time guidelines are based on low-quality evidence and lack the nuance required to address this complex issue. This project will use innovative technology to resolve these weaknesses. Wearable cameras will measure what children are doing on screens, and where, when, and how long they are doing it. The project will also investigate how screen time impacts children’s development and how it is influenced by their environment. This evidence will benefit children by improving screen time guidelines, and help parents understand the impact of screen time on children’s development.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100591
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,956.00
Summary
Show me the money: Investigating how reward shapes attention and behaviour. This project aims to investigate how attention is automatically drawn towards stimuli that signal rewarding outcomes. Sometimes, the attention afforded to these reward cues (how we’ve learned to respond) is in direct conflict with our intentions (how we would like to behave). This project expects to generate new knowledge regarding how and when attentional distraction by reward is more automatic in nature as opposed to b ....Show me the money: Investigating how reward shapes attention and behaviour. This project aims to investigate how attention is automatically drawn towards stimuli that signal rewarding outcomes. Sometimes, the attention afforded to these reward cues (how we’ve learned to respond) is in direct conflict with our intentions (how we would like to behave). This project expects to generate new knowledge regarding how and when attentional distraction by reward is more automatic in nature as opposed to being inhibited by cognitive control processes. Expected outcomes of this project include better understanding of the learning processes that shape attentional responses, the neural correlates of the conflict that can arise and the link to behavioural outcomes (e.g., food choices). Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL190100011
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$3,232,000.00
Summary
Contemporary life engagement and cognitive resilience in ageing. The aim of this Laureate Fellowship is to make a significant advance in our understanding of cognitive ageing through the adult life course by discovering how contemporary lifestyles and experience impact on cognitive resilience and cognitive function. Population ageing is occurring globally, creating an urgent need for evidence to inform strategies to promote ageing well and productively. Through assessment of adults aged 18-90 (a ....Contemporary life engagement and cognitive resilience in ageing. The aim of this Laureate Fellowship is to make a significant advance in our understanding of cognitive ageing through the adult life course by discovering how contemporary lifestyles and experience impact on cognitive resilience and cognitive function. Population ageing is occurring globally, creating an urgent need for evidence to inform strategies to promote ageing well and productively. Through assessment of adults aged 18-90 (across the life course), this project will evaluation the impact of technology, life space and sensory function on brain structure and function, and cognition. Intended benefits include provision of evidence to inform interventions and policies that optimize cognitive resilience and reduce cognitive decline.Read moreRead less
Hunger flexibly modifies hypothalamic neural circuits responding to threat. Animal and human behaviour frequently involves a choice between actions or goals with conflicting positive and negative outcomes. However, the appropriate action or goal in conflicting situations often depends on physiological pressures like hunger, stress and mating opportunities. For example, the need for resources within an environment, such as food, drives approach behaviour, whereas threats to survival, such as pred ....Hunger flexibly modifies hypothalamic neural circuits responding to threat. Animal and human behaviour frequently involves a choice between actions or goals with conflicting positive and negative outcomes. However, the appropriate action or goal in conflicting situations often depends on physiological pressures like hunger, stress and mating opportunities. For example, the need for resources within an environment, such as food, drives approach behaviour, whereas threats to survival, such as predator cues, enhance avoidance behaviour. This project will uncover the neural circuitry and endocrine mechanisms through which hunger influences hypothalamic threat-detecting circuits that suppress food intake. These studies provide a new hypothalamic model to understand risk/reward decision in the brain.Read moreRead less
How people learn inhibitory associations. This project aims to combine insights from associative and cognitive theories to investigate how people acquire, represent and generalise knowledge about inhibitory, or preventative, relationships. The project intends to use novel methods to assess the inhibitory causal structures inferred by individual participants, expected to include direct outcome prevention, modulation of a causal relationship, and configural learning. This project should expand our ....How people learn inhibitory associations. This project aims to combine insights from associative and cognitive theories to investigate how people acquire, represent and generalise knowledge about inhibitory, or preventative, relationships. The project intends to use novel methods to assess the inhibitory causal structures inferred by individual participants, expected to include direct outcome prevention, modulation of a causal relationship, and configural learning. This project should expand our understanding of the mechanisms of human associative learning. The project should benefit and inform clinical interventions based on identifying and normalising maladaptive learned associations.Read moreRead less
Older workers & psychological contracts: A dynamic perspective. This project aims to track the trajectories of older workers’ psychological contracts that shape their give-and-take with the organisation. Little is understood about how these psychological contracts change as older workers continue to pursue work through their fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth decades of life. This project tracks older workers over intensive, repeated in-depth interviews and a large-scale longitudinal panel study. ....Older workers & psychological contracts: A dynamic perspective. This project aims to track the trajectories of older workers’ psychological contracts that shape their give-and-take with the organisation. Little is understood about how these psychological contracts change as older workers continue to pursue work through their fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth decades of life. This project tracks older workers over intensive, repeated in-depth interviews and a large-scale longitudinal panel study. The outcomes fill significant gaps in our understanding of older workers’ needs and orientation toward work, and identify the age-related changes and organisational practices that spur older workers to sustain a strong trajectory of productive participation in the workforce.Read moreRead less
Ready, steady, go: Infant motor development and cognition. This project aims to examine the changes in and relationships between cognition and motoric abilities during infancy. The project will utilise well-established and innovative measures of memory flexibility and motor development to generate new knowledge about the complex relationship between action, perception, and cognition. The expected outcomes will provide significant benefits such as increased scientific and public knowledge on earl ....Ready, steady, go: Infant motor development and cognition. This project aims to examine the changes in and relationships between cognition and motoric abilities during infancy. The project will utilise well-established and innovative measures of memory flexibility and motor development to generate new knowledge about the complex relationship between action, perception, and cognition. The expected outcomes will provide significant benefits such as increased scientific and public knowledge on early development and an evidence base on the normal stages of infant development, relevant for health policy.Read moreRead less
Enhancing lifeguard performance: A multidisciplinary approach. This project aims to improve the timely identification of swimmers at risk of drowning by drawing on a range of theoretical, empirical, and methodological approaches from the disciplines of organisational psychology, human factors, cognitive science and computer science. Lifeguards are vital for maintaining public safety at aquatic venues, however despite their presence, fatal and non-fatal drownings occur every year with little know ....Enhancing lifeguard performance: A multidisciplinary approach. This project aims to improve the timely identification of swimmers at risk of drowning by drawing on a range of theoretical, empirical, and methodological approaches from the disciplines of organisational psychology, human factors, cognitive science and computer science. Lifeguards are vital for maintaining public safety at aquatic venues, however despite their presence, fatal and non-fatal drownings occur every year with little known about the factors that affect vigilance, scanning and sustained attention in such a complex, dynamic environment. Expected outcomes of the project include evidence-based solutions for selecting, training and maintaining the performance of lifeguards that account for both organisational and individual factors. These will improve Australia’s ability to build social capital in both urban and rural centres by providing the safest possible community swimming pools.Read moreRead less