Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101107
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$412,744.00
Summary
Ahead of the Game: Balancing the Gaming Industry and Public Interest. This project battles the risks and embraces the benefits of digital gaming. There is a risk that one loses control of their gaming and prioritises it over other duties. This is offset by the benefits of using digital games for health. It is the first to decode and use the health data embedded in the connection between the gamer and their game persona (avatar). It does this by concurrently assessing important gamer, family, cul ....Ahead of the Game: Balancing the Gaming Industry and Public Interest. This project battles the risks and embraces the benefits of digital gaming. There is a risk that one loses control of their gaming and prioritises it over other duties. This is offset by the benefits of using digital games for health. It is the first to decode and use the health data embedded in the connection between the gamer and their game persona (avatar). It does this by concurrently assessing important gamer, family, cultural and game structure features. Findings will prompt the ethical growth of the Australian Health games industry and inform strategies to combat gaming disorder by tailoring games to users' needs. This will uniquely benefit Australians by re-directing this growing industry to better serve the public interest.Read moreRead less
Whether social media literacy mitigates effects of social media in adolescents. This project aims to determine protective and risk factors for problems associated with social media use in early adolescents. In particular, it aims to determine the protective role of social media literacy (the skill to analyse, critique and evaluate social media posts). Although most Australian adolescents use social media, frequent social media engagement and photo-based activities can cause body dissatisfaction, ....Whether social media literacy mitigates effects of social media in adolescents. This project aims to determine protective and risk factors for problems associated with social media use in early adolescents. In particular, it aims to determine the protective role of social media literacy (the skill to analyse, critique and evaluate social media posts). Although most Australian adolescents use social media, frequent social media engagement and photo-based activities can cause body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and compromised well-being. Findings supporting a protective role for social media literacy are expected to inform policy to improve adolescent well-being and pave the way for school-based social media literacy interventions.Read moreRead less
The impact of female sex hormones on neurodevelopment. This project aims to characterise the contribution of sex hormones to the development of emotional brain circuits in female adolescents. Puberty is associated with profound changes in emotional behaviours in females, but we know little about the underlying brain mechanisms. In particular, research has neglected to consider the role of the sex hormones for which changes are a defining feature of female puberty (eg, oestradiol). This work will ....The impact of female sex hormones on neurodevelopment. This project aims to characterise the contribution of sex hormones to the development of emotional brain circuits in female adolescents. Puberty is associated with profound changes in emotional behaviours in females, but we know little about the underlying brain mechanisms. In particular, research has neglected to consider the role of the sex hormones for which changes are a defining feature of female puberty (eg, oestradiol). This work will be the first to comprehensively advance our understanding of the unique role of sex hormones in shaping the adolescent female brain. It will provide critical understanding of how individual differences in hormonal factors increase risk for emotional problems in females, and inform treatment strategies.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101108
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$352,000.00
Summary
The ups and downs of visuospatial attention. The brain has a remarkable capacity to provide a coherent experience of the world by seamlessly integrating sights and sounds from different locations. It is only after brain damage, or when faced with a high attentional load, that our limitations become apparent. The project aims to investigate these limitations by determining how spatial location influences attention in relation to distractibility, cross-modal input and emotionality. Eye tracking an ....The ups and downs of visuospatial attention. The brain has a remarkable capacity to provide a coherent experience of the world by seamlessly integrating sights and sounds from different locations. It is only after brain damage, or when faced with a high attentional load, that our limitations become apparent. The project aims to investigate these limitations by determining how spatial location influences attention in relation to distractibility, cross-modal input and emotionality. Eye tracking and physiological measures of arousal will be combined with traditional cognitive measures to provide a deeper understanding of spatial attention. This project aims to improve attentional models and develop innovative strategies to increase safety by decreasing inattention and distraction.Read moreRead less
Emotions and Employee Turnover: New Methods for Complex Dynamic Systems. This project aims to vastly improve the data-analytic capabilities of social and health researchers, while increasing knowledge about emotion dynamics and their link to employee turnover. By drawing on and advancing methods from ecology and applied physics, this project plans to investigate the role that individual emotions play in employee turnover with new quantitative methods for characterising and testing causality in c ....Emotions and Employee Turnover: New Methods for Complex Dynamic Systems. This project aims to vastly improve the data-analytic capabilities of social and health researchers, while increasing knowledge about emotion dynamics and their link to employee turnover. By drawing on and advancing methods from ecology and applied physics, this project plans to investigate the role that individual emotions play in employee turnover with new quantitative methods for characterising and testing causality in complex dynamic systems. The expected outcomes include an improved capacity for researchers, managers, and policy makers to understand complex organisational, economic, and health systems. This will provide immediate societal benefits by informing the development and deployment of targeted interventions in such systems.Read moreRead less
Understanding and responding to online child sexual exploitation offenders. The development of online communication technologies has facilitated a growth in online child sexual exploitation over the past two decades. Using a data-linkage framework, this project aims to enhance understanding of online child sexual exploitation, the legal frameworks surrounding this issue, and the unique characteristics, risks and needs of online sexual offenders. Expected outcomes include increased knowledge to i ....Understanding and responding to online child sexual exploitation offenders. The development of online communication technologies has facilitated a growth in online child sexual exploitation over the past two decades. Using a data-linkage framework, this project aims to enhance understanding of online child sexual exploitation, the legal frameworks surrounding this issue, and the unique characteristics, risks and needs of online sexual offenders. Expected outcomes include increased knowledge to inform current law enforcement and sentencing practices and the development of risk assessment and intervention protocols for clinical use with online offenders. This should increase evidence-based practice with online sexual offenders and assist in preventing the sexual exploitation of children online and in the community.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100147
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$457,058.00
Summary
Child victims: Providing protection from re-victimisation and offending. This project aims to improve understanding of the impact of child abuse, neglect and exposure to domestic violence on young people’s future experiences of re-victimisation and offending. It expects to generate new evidence about the maltreatment experiences that increase risk of youth re-victimisation and offending, potential causal mechanisms and factors that might aggravate or buffer children from these harmful effects. E ....Child victims: Providing protection from re-victimisation and offending. This project aims to improve understanding of the impact of child abuse, neglect and exposure to domestic violence on young people’s future experiences of re-victimisation and offending. It expects to generate new evidence about the maltreatment experiences that increase risk of youth re-victimisation and offending, potential causal mechanisms and factors that might aggravate or buffer children from these harmful effects. Expected outcomes include increased knowledge to inform effective policy and interventions aimed at identifying at-risk children and meeting young people’s needs related to adverse legal outcomes. This should help improve public safety, reduce the economic impact of maltreatment and support vulnerable children to thrive.Read moreRead less
Investigating the role of Zona Incerta RXFP3+ cells in learning and memory. Learning and memory are fundamental to human and animal behaviour. We identified a specific population of cells in the zona incerta of the brain, where activation inhibits expression of memory, and facilitates the acquisition of new learning. Aside from our observations, nothing is currently known about the anatomy and function of these cells. This project aims to map how they connect to the rest of the brain, to observe ....Investigating the role of Zona Incerta RXFP3+ cells in learning and memory. Learning and memory are fundamental to human and animal behaviour. We identified a specific population of cells in the zona incerta of the brain, where activation inhibits expression of memory, and facilitates the acquisition of new learning. Aside from our observations, nothing is currently known about the anatomy and function of these cells. This project aims to map how they connect to the rest of the brain, to observe how these connections are recruited during learning and memory, and then to test their function experimentally. The outcomes will extend the known neural circuitry that controls learning by defining how and where these unexplored pathways fit within it; thus advancing knowledge regarding neural regulation of behaviour.
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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
Functional impact of high fat and high sugar diets on memory encoding. This project aims to determine the functional mechanisms of how fats and sugar affect neuronal processes vital for learning and memory. Expected outcomes will define the neural mechanisms underpinning cognitive changes in emotional and spatial memory encoding, and how these relate to brain and metabolic parameters. This will provide benefits by unveiling the possible consequences of dietary fat and sugar on the brain, and th ....Functional impact of high fat and high sugar diets on memory encoding. This project aims to determine the functional mechanisms of how fats and sugar affect neuronal processes vital for learning and memory. Expected outcomes will define the neural mechanisms underpinning cognitive changes in emotional and spatial memory encoding, and how these relate to brain and metabolic parameters. This will provide benefits by unveiling the possible consequences of dietary fat and sugar on the brain, and the mechanisms of neuroplasticity enhancing interventions.Read moreRead less