Enhancing Hypnotic Responding with Oxytocin. Although hypnosis has been studied for over a 100 years, little is understood about the neuroscience of hypnosis. This project represents the first investigation of the neural mechanisms underpinning hypnosis. At an applied level, this project has the potential to markedly increase the capacity for Australians to benefit from medical and psychological hypnosis. Hypnosis has been shown to assist in many medical and psychological conditions, and by d ....Enhancing Hypnotic Responding with Oxytocin. Although hypnosis has been studied for over a 100 years, little is understood about the neuroscience of hypnosis. This project represents the first investigation of the neural mechanisms underpinning hypnosis. At an applied level, this project has the potential to markedly increase the capacity for Australians to benefit from medical and psychological hypnosis. Hypnosis has been shown to assist in many medical and psychological conditions, and by developing the means to increase hypnotic responding, this project can directly enhance the physical and psychological health of Australians.Read moreRead less
Distinguishing categories and dimensions: Taxometric investigations. This project aims to apply and refine promising new methods for classifying psychological variations. These "taxometric" methods detect categories and locate their boundaries, enabling improved taxonomies of personality and mental disorder. They will be used to examine whether personality disorders are discrete categories or fall on a continuum with normal personality, and whether people mentally represent social groups accordi ....Distinguishing categories and dimensions: Taxometric investigations. This project aims to apply and refine promising new methods for classifying psychological variations. These "taxometric" methods detect categories and locate their boundaries, enabling improved taxonomies of personality and mental disorder. They will be used to examine whether personality disorders are discrete categories or fall on a continuum with normal personality, and whether people mentally represent social groups according to qualitatively distinct ontological assumptions. The statistical validity of these methods will be comprehensively assessed. The project should help to resolve enduring questions about psychological classification and deepen our understanding of social stereotyping.Read moreRead less
The Power of Causal Attributions: Genetic Essentialist Biases and Health. Great advancements in the science of genetics are accompanied by increased public propensity to attribute causality to the genes for diverse outcomes such as abilities, social group differences, attitudes, and diseases. These genetic attributions activate cognitive biases termed Genetic Essentialist Biases, which have been shown to instigate a variety of deleterious outcomes. The project will evaluate hypothesized detrimen ....The Power of Causal Attributions: Genetic Essentialist Biases and Health. Great advancements in the science of genetics are accompanied by increased public propensity to attribute causality to the genes for diverse outcomes such as abilities, social group differences, attitudes, and diseases. These genetic attributions activate cognitive biases termed Genetic Essentialist Biases, which have been shown to instigate a variety of deleterious outcomes. The project will evaluate hypothesized detrimental effects of genetic attributions on actual health behaviours, endorsement of health policies, and disease related stigma. Furthermore, it will test interventions designed to reduce the negative effects of such attributions on attitudes, beliefs, intentions, and behaviours related to a common disease. Read moreRead less
Declining mental efficiency, cognitive performance and individual differences in aged function. Ageing men's health is poorer than women's and men show lower uptake of public health messages. The project has potential to extend the productive involvement of older men in the community, thereby reducing dependence and health care expenditure. Future benefits could also include an effective, convenient, preliminary screening procedure for tracking abnormal cognitive ageing from an early stage amo ....Declining mental efficiency, cognitive performance and individual differences in aged function. Ageing men's health is poorer than women's and men show lower uptake of public health messages. The project has potential to extend the productive involvement of older men in the community, thereby reducing dependence and health care expenditure. Future benefits could also include an effective, convenient, preliminary screening procedure for tracking abnormal cognitive ageing from an early stage among elderly people. This could be also used to target and evaluate interventions designed to moderate morbidity in ageing, or enhance functional capacity with aging. The project will enhance cross-disciplinary expertise and provide doctoral and postdoctoral research training.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101570
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$409,038.00
Summary
The cognitive basis of anxiety-linked heightened negative expectancies. Problems with anxiety tear at the social and economic fabric of our nation. Individuals with an elevated vulnerability to experience high levels of anxiety display a heightened tendency to expect that the future will be emotionally negative. The current project will test compelling new hypotheses concerning the cognitive mechanisms that causally underpin such negative expectancies, using cutting-edge cognitive methodologies ....The cognitive basis of anxiety-linked heightened negative expectancies. Problems with anxiety tear at the social and economic fabric of our nation. Individuals with an elevated vulnerability to experience high levels of anxiety display a heightened tendency to expect that the future will be emotionally negative. The current project will test compelling new hypotheses concerning the cognitive mechanisms that causally underpin such negative expectancies, using cutting-edge cognitive methodologies that permit not only the sensitive assessment, but also the direct manipulation, of these mechanisms. The findings generated will exert major scientific impact, and will directly contribute to our national strategic efforts to improve the mental well-being of our citizens, and to build healthy and resilient communities.Read moreRead less
The cognitive basis of resilience. This project aims to test whether resilience to bad events can be influenced by modifying information processing factors. High resilience reflects the ability to sustain adaptive psychological functioning in the wake of bad events, and affects physical, emotional, social, and economic wellbeing. The project will test the hypothesis that biases in attention and implicational inferencing at differing stages of event processing affect wellbeing. It will use cognit ....The cognitive basis of resilience. This project aims to test whether resilience to bad events can be influenced by modifying information processing factors. High resilience reflects the ability to sustain adaptive psychological functioning in the wake of bad events, and affects physical, emotional, social, and economic wellbeing. The project will test the hypothesis that biases in attention and implicational inferencing at differing stages of event processing affect wellbeing. It will use cognitive methodologies that sensitively assess and manipulate biases, thereby revealing their causal role in the determination of resilience. The findings are expected to directly contribute to national efforts to build healthy and resilient communities.Read moreRead less
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL170100167
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,295,215.00
Summary
Differentiating the cognitive basis of unproductive versus productive worry. This project aims to delineate the individual differences in cognitive functioning that distinguish between the tendency to experience unproductive versus productive worry. For some people, worry severely compromises well-being, while for others worry yields significant benefits by fostering preparatory behaviours that protect against misfortune. Using innovative and compelling hypotheses, as well as laboratory and fiel ....Differentiating the cognitive basis of unproductive versus productive worry. This project aims to delineate the individual differences in cognitive functioning that distinguish between the tendency to experience unproductive versus productive worry. For some people, worry severely compromises well-being, while for others worry yields significant benefits by fostering preparatory behaviours that protect against misfortune. Using innovative and compelling hypotheses, as well as laboratory and fieldwork approaches, this project will deliver the capacity to assess, predict, and explain the individual differences in unproductive and productive worrying that underpin variability in resilient responding to situations in which adaptive action can mitigate real-world risk. This project will have major scientific impact, generating influential publications concerning the cognitive distinctions between productive and unproductive worry that will position Australia as a global leader in this field.Read moreRead less
Attentional bias, attentional control, and anxiety vulnerability: A test of alternative hypotheses concerning their functional relationship. Elevated anxiety vulnerability (AV) is characterised by two attentional anomalies; an attentional bias to threat (ABT), and impaired attentional control (IAC). These have been the foci of separate lines of investigation. The proposed research will synthesise these disparate lines of inquiry, to significantly progress both in important ways. Innovative parad ....Attentional bias, attentional control, and anxiety vulnerability: A test of alternative hypotheses concerning their functional relationship. Elevated anxiety vulnerability (AV) is characterised by two attentional anomalies; an attentional bias to threat (ABT), and impaired attentional control (IAC). These have been the foci of separate lines of investigation. The proposed research will synthesise these disparate lines of inquiry, to significantly progress both in important ways. Innovative paradigms will be developed to determine the functional relationship between ABT and IAC, and illuminate the nature of their associations with AV. In addition to advancing theoretical understanding of the attentional underpinnings of AV, this research will evaluate the capacity of new cognitive technologies to ameliorate anxiety vulnerability through modification of its attentional substrate. Read moreRead less
Cognitive mechanisms underlying readiness to acquire elevated anxious temperament. This research project seeks to identify the cognitive mechanisms that are causally implicated in individual differences in the tendency to elevate anxious temperament in response to stressful environments. It will also seek to establish the extent to which these cognitive mechanisms represent the phenotypic expression of genes associated with greater susceptibility to elevate anxious temperament. Research outcomes ....Cognitive mechanisms underlying readiness to acquire elevated anxious temperament. This research project seeks to identify the cognitive mechanisms that are causally implicated in individual differences in the tendency to elevate anxious temperament in response to stressful environments. It will also seek to establish the extent to which these cognitive mechanisms represent the phenotypic expression of genes associated with greater susceptibility to elevate anxious temperament. Research outcomes will serve to inform the question as to why the same types of environmental stressors can serve to produce vastly different effects on emotional vulnerability for different individuals. The procedures developed during this research will also have the potential to reduce the negative emotional consequences of sustained stress.Read moreRead less
Selective information processing and anxiety problems. Anxiety problems cost Australia over $1 billion per annum, and affect up to 16% of some Australian populations. Previous research by the applicants, and others, recently has established that certain patterns of selective information processing causally underpin elevated vulnerability to anxiety. The present program will serve to distinguish the functional contributions made by two specific classes of processing selectivity to two key dimensi ....Selective information processing and anxiety problems. Anxiety problems cost Australia over $1 billion per annum, and affect up to 16% of some Australian populations. Previous research by the applicants, and others, recently has established that certain patterns of selective information processing causally underpin elevated vulnerability to anxiety. The present program will serve to distinguish the functional contributions made by two specific classes of processing selectivity to two key dimensions of anxiety vulnerability. It is designed to produce novel cognitive technologies capable not only of predicting, but also of attenuating, both the tendency to experience anxiety reactions to stress, and the subsequent persistent of anxiety over time.Read moreRead less