Online relationship therapy supporting those affected by substance use. This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an online relationship therapy program for those experiencing relationship dysfunction and where one or both partners engage in problematic substance use. In doing so, the project addresses a major service gap, specifically, the lack of online programs to support this population in developing and maintaining positive romantic relationships. The expected outcomes include redu ....Online relationship therapy supporting those affected by substance use. This project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an online relationship therapy program for those experiencing relationship dysfunction and where one or both partners engage in problematic substance use. In doing so, the project addresses a major service gap, specifically, the lack of online programs to support this population in developing and maintaining positive romantic relationships. The expected outcomes include reduced relationship conflict, intimate partner violence, and relationship breakdown. The project's potential for wide-scale roll out will yield far-reaching benefits for Australian couples and families dealing with substance problems by enhancing relationship skills and fostering relationship stability.Read moreRead less
Investigating memory reliability in intoxicated witnesses of crime. Eyewitness testimony is a crucial piece of evidence for solving a crime. Inaccurate testimony leads to miscarriages of justice such as failed prosecutions or false convictions. Many witnesses and victims are affected by alcohol or other drugs during the crime. This project brings together a multidisciplinary team aiming to improve understanding of how intoxication with different substances affects the reliability of victim and w ....Investigating memory reliability in intoxicated witnesses of crime. Eyewitness testimony is a crucial piece of evidence for solving a crime. Inaccurate testimony leads to miscarriages of justice such as failed prosecutions or false convictions. Many witnesses and victims are affected by alcohol or other drugs during the crime. This project brings together a multidisciplinary team aiming to improve understanding of how intoxication with different substances affects the reliability of victim and witness memory accuracy. Crucially, crimes are frequently distressing; therefore the interaction between intoxication and stress urgently requires exploration. This project will significantly advance our understanding of key mechanisms behind drug effects on memory, and support fairer judicial outcomes for all. Read moreRead less
Linking arterial, brain and cognitive integrity in healthy older adults. This project aims to demonstrate that engaging the brain’s prefrontal cortex, an area that is highly sensitive to ageing, can improve the function of arteries that supply blood to this brain region. Using an innovative optical imaging methodology that maps the brain’s regional arterial health, it aims to generate new knowledge about the link between this arterial system and the progressive decline in cognitive control abili ....Linking arterial, brain and cognitive integrity in healthy older adults. This project aims to demonstrate that engaging the brain’s prefrontal cortex, an area that is highly sensitive to ageing, can improve the function of arteries that supply blood to this brain region. Using an innovative optical imaging methodology that maps the brain’s regional arterial health, it aims to generate new knowledge about the link between this arterial system and the progressive decline in cognitive control ability and in prefrontal cortex structure and function in healthy older adults. This interdisciplinary, international collaboration aims to put Australia at the forefront of brain optical imaging methods that may have significant benefits by informing approaches to promote and maintain healthy brain and cognition in old age.Read moreRead less
Effort and reward valuation. This project aims to examine the relationships between effort, value, and life satisfaction. Effort, which is closely akin to motivation, is influenced by several variables. The project will reveal the psychological variables that cause effort to have a positive as well as a negative influence on reward valuation. This will help to understand how, when, and why effort influences motivation, and how these processes may encourage healthier, more productive choices, and ....Effort and reward valuation. This project aims to examine the relationships between effort, value, and life satisfaction. Effort, which is closely akin to motivation, is influenced by several variables. The project will reveal the psychological variables that cause effort to have a positive as well as a negative influence on reward valuation. This will help to understand how, when, and why effort influences motivation, and how these processes may encourage healthier, more productive choices, and improved satisfaction with life.Read moreRead less
Extinction of conditioned responding: Learning from the evidence of absence. When animals or people learn that a cue, or their own action, is followed by something important, they respond in anticipation of the outcome or to control it. This project investigates how these learned responses can be reduced (“extinguished”) when the conditions that established them change. It will help solve 2 outstanding theoretical and practical problems: what makes some learned behaviours resistant to extinction ....Extinction of conditioned responding: Learning from the evidence of absence. When animals or people learn that a cue, or their own action, is followed by something important, they respond in anticipation of the outcome or to control it. This project investigates how these learned responses can be reduced (“extinguished”) when the conditions that established them change. It will help solve 2 outstanding theoretical and practical problems: what makes some learned behaviours resistant to extinction or prone to relapse after being extinguished? The project will identify the factors that are most directly responsible for resistance and relapse. This could pave the way to finding solutions for the major problems that bedevil therapies designed to treat human behavioural disorders, such as addictions, gambling, and anxietyRead moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100856
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$398,671.00
Summary
Oxytocin enhances the processing of environmental cues. Oxytocin is a powerful neuromodulator for social and emotional processing. Despite extensive research demonstrating pro-social and anxiolytic effects of oxytocin, the psychological processes that produce its effects are unknown. My hypothesis is that oxytocin enhances attention to cues that signal emotionally significant outcomes. This project will systematically assess the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying OT's effects using a ....Oxytocin enhances the processing of environmental cues. Oxytocin is a powerful neuromodulator for social and emotional processing. Despite extensive research demonstrating pro-social and anxiolytic effects of oxytocin, the psychological processes that produce its effects are unknown. My hypothesis is that oxytocin enhances attention to cues that signal emotionally significant outcomes. This project will systematically assess the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying OT's effects using an associative learning framework through an innovative combination of Pavlovian conditioning, behavioural pharmacology, chemogenetic and transgenic methods. This is the first project to use an associative learning framework to understand the psychological processes that produce oxytocin’s effects. Read moreRead less
The processing of fear in the medial temporal lobe. The aim of this project is to identify how fear affects information processing in the medial temporal lobe (MTL). It is significant in providing the first systematic assessment of how fear alters processing of different types of information in the MTL, including the innocuous; and how fear affects processing of memories in MTL networks, including their integration. The expected outcomes are basic knowledge regarding these effects of fear, and a ....The processing of fear in the medial temporal lobe. The aim of this project is to identify how fear affects information processing in the medial temporal lobe (MTL). It is significant in providing the first systematic assessment of how fear alters processing of different types of information in the MTL, including the innocuous; and how fear affects processing of memories in MTL networks, including their integration. The expected outcomes are basic knowledge regarding these effects of fear, and a theory of MTL function in which they are explained. The benefit of this knowledge is a better understanding of how information is processed in a normal brain, and therefore, disturbances to information processing in fear-related disorders (e.g., over-generalization of fear in post-traumatic stress).Read moreRead less
Extinction and response inhibition. Humans and other animals readily learn to perform an action if it is “reinforced” by a reward and will extinguish the action if it stops being reinforced. Popular models of learning describe extinction as the automatic outcome of a prediction-error correction process that gradually weakens, and eventually eliminates, the response-reward association. But there is much evidence that conditioned responses are not eliminated and can be quickly restored. Other evid ....Extinction and response inhibition. Humans and other animals readily learn to perform an action if it is “reinforced” by a reward and will extinguish the action if it stops being reinforced. Popular models of learning describe extinction as the automatic outcome of a prediction-error correction process that gradually weakens, and eventually eliminates, the response-reward association. But there is much evidence that conditioned responses are not eliminated and can be quickly restored. Other evidence suggests that extinction might involve more specific inhibitory processes that suppress the response without eliminating the original learning. The current project investigates the role of response inhibition in the extinction of learned responses in humans.Read moreRead less
Existing knowledge determines how new experiences are encoded in the brain. The aim of this project is to identify how existing knowledge shapes the way that new fear memories are encoded and stored in the brain. It seeks to achieve this aim through the use of an animal model, Pavlovian fear conditioning in rats. It is significant in providing the first systematic assessment of fear memories that form when dangerous experiences are consistent versus inconsistent with existing knowledge. The expe ....Existing knowledge determines how new experiences are encoded in the brain. The aim of this project is to identify how existing knowledge shapes the way that new fear memories are encoded and stored in the brain. It seeks to achieve this aim through the use of an animal model, Pavlovian fear conditioning in rats. It is significant in providing the first systematic assessment of fear memories that form when dangerous experiences are consistent versus inconsistent with existing knowledge. The expected outcomes include new information regarding the links between existing knowledge, fear memories and their neural substrates. This information is needed for the development of a comprehensive theory that explains how the conditions under which fear memories form determines their content and wiring in the brain.Read moreRead less
Punishment learning: from cells to circuits to behaviour. This project aims to ask and answer fundamental questions about how risk and danger guide our learning and behaviour. It combines theoretically driven approaches from associative learning and experimental psychology with a state of the art technology platform for mapping and manipulating brain function. This project expects to provide new mechanistic knowledge, from cells to circuits to behaviour, about how punishment shapes our learning ....Punishment learning: from cells to circuits to behaviour. This project aims to ask and answer fundamental questions about how risk and danger guide our learning and behaviour. It combines theoretically driven approaches from associative learning and experimental psychology with a state of the art technology platform for mapping and manipulating brain function. This project expects to provide new mechanistic knowledge, from cells to circuits to behaviour, about how punishment shapes our learning and behaviour. This should provide significant benefits including a new knowledge base advancing theories of associative learning as well as laying a new basic science platform for understanding how punishment contributes to learning and emotional deficits.Read moreRead less