Trauma memory and narrative structure in post-traumatic distress. The project enhances understanding of factors that maintain enduring distress and disability following traumatic experiences which have major social and financial costs to individuals, communities and to the nation. Better knowledge of these factors is central to improving early detection and refining prevention and early intervention for individuals and to help understand how communities can better manage their response to sever ....Trauma memory and narrative structure in post-traumatic distress. The project enhances understanding of factors that maintain enduring distress and disability following traumatic experiences which have major social and financial costs to individuals, communities and to the nation. Better knowledge of these factors is central to improving early detection and refining prevention and early intervention for individuals and to help understand how communities can better manage their response to severe traumatic events. The results may lead to significant refinements to efficacious psychological treatments involving exposure to emotional memories. The project's innovative approach to studying autobiographical memories will enhance Australia's internationally competitiveness in a key area within psychology.Read moreRead less
Parents as Partners: Getting children off to a healthy start in literacy. Our nation is best served by children getting off to a healthy start in literacy. However, almost one in six children fails to do so. This group has reduced academic and vocational options, increased social, emotional and mental health problems, higher youth unemployment, and is significantly over-represented among offenders. The nation bears the costs of these problems through reduced productivity and expenditure on unemp ....Parents as Partners: Getting children off to a healthy start in literacy. Our nation is best served by children getting off to a healthy start in literacy. However, almost one in six children fails to do so. This group has reduced academic and vocational options, increased social, emotional and mental health problems, higher youth unemployment, and is significantly over-represented among offenders. The nation bears the costs of these problems through reduced productivity and expenditure on unemployment benefits, social programs, mental health services, and incarceration. This project targets both these sources of loss to the nation by utilising a hitherto untapped community resource: Training parents of preschoolers to develop critical pre-literacy skills in their children at home before they begin to fail. Read moreRead less
Augmentation of fear extinction in anxious children through the use of D-Cycloserine. Anxiety disorders affect around a tenth of the population, including children, and produce tremendous personal and social costs. Improving our treatments for anxious children can help to prevent a lifetime of limitations and difficulties. This study will examine whether giving children a small dose of a simple antibiotic can increase the extent to which they lose their fears of specific cues when exposed to tho ....Augmentation of fear extinction in anxious children through the use of D-Cycloserine. Anxiety disorders affect around a tenth of the population, including children, and produce tremendous personal and social costs. Improving our treatments for anxious children can help to prevent a lifetime of limitations and difficulties. This study will examine whether giving children a small dose of a simple antibiotic can increase the extent to which they lose their fears of specific cues when exposed to those cues. These results have the potential to revolutionise our understanding and treatment of child anxiety.Read moreRead less
The associative mechanisms underlying extinction and latent inhibition. Formal models that explain how animals learn associations between stimuli have enjoyed considerable success, and have even been identified with neurophysiological mechanisms. Theoretical analysis of the opposite, though equally important, form of learning - that two stimuli are not associated - lags far behind, due to fundamental methodological confounds that plague research on this topic. This project investigates two insta ....The associative mechanisms underlying extinction and latent inhibition. Formal models that explain how animals learn associations between stimuli have enjoyed considerable success, and have even been identified with neurophysiological mechanisms. Theoretical analysis of the opposite, though equally important, form of learning - that two stimuli are not associated - lags far behind, due to fundamental methodological confounds that plague research on this topic. This project investigates two instances of this learning: extinction and latent inhibition. Using a new procedure that avoids earlier confounds, we will describe and compare the processes underlying extinction and latent inhibition. This research will represent a major breakthrough in our understanding about fundamental processes in learning.Read moreRead less
A philosophical and empirical approach to the nature of perception and belief. This project offers substantial benefits - intellectual, practical, and ultimately economic - to the nation. On the intellectual side, the project will contribute to research output and will further enhance the national research strength in the study of delusions, rationality, and agency, within both philosophy of mind and inter-disciplinary cognitive science. On the practical side, the project offers the prospect of ....A philosophical and empirical approach to the nature of perception and belief. This project offers substantial benefits - intellectual, practical, and ultimately economic - to the nation. On the intellectual side, the project will contribute to research output and will further enhance the national research strength in the study of delusions, rationality, and agency, within both philosophy of mind and inter-disciplinary cognitive science. On the practical side, the project offers the prospect of considerable benefits for the community as improved theories of the nature and causes of delusions generate strategies for earlier detection or even prevention of the development of delusions, new methods of therapy for patients, and better understanding for families.Read moreRead less
Hypnosis and Emotional Numbing. Emotional numbing, or lack of emotional response, is a core problem in many clinical disorders. This project represents an innovative approach by using hypnosis to model emotional numbing in the laboratory and to investigate the mechanisms and effects of emotional numbing under experimental conditions. These studies will shed new light on the major factors that contribute to this form of emotional disorder, will lead to a new model of emotional numbing, and will ....Hypnosis and Emotional Numbing. Emotional numbing, or lack of emotional response, is a core problem in many clinical disorders. This project represents an innovative approach by using hypnosis to model emotional numbing in the laboratory and to investigate the mechanisms and effects of emotional numbing under experimental conditions. These studies will shed new light on the major factors that contribute to this form of emotional disorder, will lead to a new model of emotional numbing, and will have significant implications for our understanding and management of disordered emotional states.Read moreRead less
Cognitive neuropsychiatry: understanding delusional belief and delusional hallucination from a cognitive neuropsychological perspective. Cognitive neuropsychiatry aims to explain psychiatric symptoms in terms of abnormalities in the functioning of the human mind. This project applies a two-factor model of this type to better understand delusion and hallucination. In this model, a distinction is drawn between factors which explain the initial generation of an abnormal thought and factors which ex ....Cognitive neuropsychiatry: understanding delusional belief and delusional hallucination from a cognitive neuropsychological perspective. Cognitive neuropsychiatry aims to explain psychiatric symptoms in terms of abnormalities in the functioning of the human mind. This project applies a two-factor model of this type to better understand delusion and hallucination. In this model, a distinction is drawn between factors which explain the initial generation of an abnormal thought and factors which explain the uncritical acceptance, rather than rejection, of the abnormal thought. The generality of this model will be evaluated by investigating delusions in a range of clinical contexts. Findings may contribute to the design of more effective cognitive-behaviour therapies for treating psychosis in different clinical conditions.Read moreRead less
Investigating evidence of control system dynamics in visuomotor skill acquisition using multimodal functional magnetic resonance imaging. This project brings together mathematical and engineering methods with cognitive neuroscience in a novel way to better understand the fundamental processes associated with brain imaging, and the acquisition of motor skills. An improved understanding of the function of regions within the motor network will have a direct benefit for the rehabilitation of patient ....Investigating evidence of control system dynamics in visuomotor skill acquisition using multimodal functional magnetic resonance imaging. This project brings together mathematical and engineering methods with cognitive neuroscience in a novel way to better understand the fundamental processes associated with brain imaging, and the acquisition of motor skills. An improved understanding of the function of regions within the motor network will have a direct benefit for the rehabilitation of patients suffering motor deficits from developmental causes, following traumatic brain injuries, and after stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases. The outcomes of the research will also contribute to our understanding of the complexity of brain networks involved in motor skill acquisition.Read moreRead less
Mechanisms of fear learning and extinction in the mammalian brain. The brain is a remarkable machine that coordinates all aspects of our daily lives including the storage and retrieval of memories. Given that many age-related degenerative disorders are associated with marked changes in learning and memory it also has implications for Australia's National Research Priority 2 "Ageing well and ageing productively". This research aims to discover the basic mechanisms that underlie memory storage an ....Mechanisms of fear learning and extinction in the mammalian brain. The brain is a remarkable machine that coordinates all aspects of our daily lives including the storage and retrieval of memories. Given that many age-related degenerative disorders are associated with marked changes in learning and memory it also has implications for Australia's National Research Priority 2 "Ageing well and ageing productively". This research aims to discover the basic mechanisms that underlie memory storage and how these are modulated in an emotional context. It will also shed light on states such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress, enhancing our ability to identify new therapeutic targets for such disorders.Read moreRead less
Disinhibition in Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A behavioural and psychophysiological investigation. This project will provide much-needed information about optimal workload rates and effort levels, and the influence of external expectations, for those with ADHD, with immediate implications in remediation and educational settings. It will inform subsequent applied research, leading to better diagnosis and treatment, resulting in better societal outcomes for those with ADHD. Long-term ....Disinhibition in Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A behavioural and psychophysiological investigation. This project will provide much-needed information about optimal workload rates and effort levels, and the influence of external expectations, for those with ADHD, with immediate implications in remediation and educational settings. It will inform subsequent applied research, leading to better diagnosis and treatment, resulting in better societal outcomes for those with ADHD. Long-term outcomes may reduce the significant financial burden placed on families and the Australian government and taxpayer by the increased use of hospital services and higher medical costs for children with ADHD, significantly increasing the likelihood of a healthy start to life for those directly, and indirectly, effected.Read moreRead less