Understanding Growth in Emotion Regulatory Flexibility in Emerging Adults. Emerging adults (ages 18-25) are now facing unparalleled social and technological change and the on-going effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such demands can be overwhelming and undermine engagement with education and employment, with serious impacts for the individual and society. At the same time, our novel model proposes that the diverse daily adult-like stressors that characterise emerging adulthood can also drive grow ....Understanding Growth in Emotion Regulatory Flexibility in Emerging Adults. Emerging adults (ages 18-25) are now facing unparalleled social and technological change and the on-going effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such demands can be overwhelming and undermine engagement with education and employment, with serious impacts for the individual and society. At the same time, our novel model proposes that the diverse daily adult-like stressors that characterise emerging adulthood can also drive growth in flexible emotion regulation when combined with reflection on, and insight into, their own coping processes. Our research expands scientific knowledge by taking the first steps to uncover why some emerging adults increase their ability to flexibly regulate their emotions over this period, whereas others fail to do so.Read moreRead less
The neurobiology of curiosity. This project aims to define the neurobiology of curiosity by combining cutting-edge techniques in computational modelling, pharmacointervention and neuroimaging. It is expected to lead to a comprehensive neuroscientific framework of curiosity, which will characterise its evolution over the lifespan, and its dependency on key neurotransmitter systems. Expected outcomes include a legacy of open access stimulus & data sets; the development of a global collaborative ne ....The neurobiology of curiosity. This project aims to define the neurobiology of curiosity by combining cutting-edge techniques in computational modelling, pharmacointervention and neuroimaging. It is expected to lead to a comprehensive neuroscientific framework of curiosity, which will characterise its evolution over the lifespan, and its dependency on key neurotransmitter systems. Expected outcomes include a legacy of open access stimulus & data sets; the development of a global collaborative network; and an increase in our national capacity and profile in decision neuroscience. The benefits of this project include laying the foundations for future interventions to improve curiosity, with potential downstream effects on many aspects of education, social & public policy.Read moreRead less
Using AI to reveal the true extent & context of alcohol exposure in videos. This project aims to extend an artificial intelligence algorithm to automatically identify and quantify alcohol prevalence in videos. The project is expected to generate significant new knowledge about alcohol’s exposure in these videos’ social, emotional, and environmental contexts. The expected outcomes include a more efficient and automated method of revealing alcohol pervasiveness and its context in the 1000 most wat ....Using AI to reveal the true extent & context of alcohol exposure in videos. This project aims to extend an artificial intelligence algorithm to automatically identify and quantify alcohol prevalence in videos. The project is expected to generate significant new knowledge about alcohol’s exposure in these videos’ social, emotional, and environmental contexts. The expected outcomes include a more efficient and automated method of revealing alcohol pervasiveness and its context in the 1000 most watched videos in Australia, making costly manual coding redundant. Anticipated benefits include enabling governments to better monitor compliance to alcohol product placement guidelines and increased public awareness of the frequency and harmful effects of being exposed to alcohol in videos.Read moreRead less
Prefrontal dopamine in the dynamic processes of learning across lifetime. To facilitate age-specific adaptive action in a changing environment, how we learn changes not only as we grow, but also as we age. However, the neurobiological processes in these age-related changes are poorly studied. This is a significant knowledge gap that needs to be addressed to promote healthy cognitive development and ageing. This research program aims to examine the contribution of prefrontal dopamine and its rece ....Prefrontal dopamine in the dynamic processes of learning across lifetime. To facilitate age-specific adaptive action in a changing environment, how we learn changes not only as we grow, but also as we age. However, the neurobiological processes in these age-related changes are poorly studied. This is a significant knowledge gap that needs to be addressed to promote healthy cognitive development and ageing. This research program aims to examine the contribution of prefrontal dopamine and its receptors D1 and D2 in associative learning and its inhibition at 9 distinct ages spanning development to ageing in male and female rats. The outcomes will provide a new neuroscientific framework to understand learning and memory throughout life, which will foster new research opportunities and inform our education and health.Read moreRead less