Diseases caused by the pneumococcus represent the largest cause of vaccine preventable death in the world today, mainly pneumonia and meningitis. In 2011, 16 developing countries will introduce pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, none in east Asia. Lack of research has been a major barrier to their use in the region. We have established an international centre of excellence in the field and we seek support to extend the capacity of this group and to transfer the technology to Vietnam.
Uncovering the processes underlying human category learning. There is a pervasive belief that complex tasks can somehow be learned via a 'smart' implicit or procedural learning mechanism, which operates independently of memory and attention. This idea has important implications for our understanding of cognition. If true, there seems little point in providing explicit instruction in such tasks, and efforts to do so are, at best, wasted time and, at worst, detrimental to the learning process. Th ....Uncovering the processes underlying human category learning. There is a pervasive belief that complex tasks can somehow be learned via a 'smart' implicit or procedural learning mechanism, which operates independently of memory and attention. This idea has important implications for our understanding of cognition. If true, there seems little point in providing explicit instruction in such tasks, and efforts to do so are, at best, wasted time and, at worst, detrimental to the learning process. This project will provide much-needed scrutiny of this idea and will help not only to re-orient our understanding of how we deal with complex information, but will also highlight issues about data interpretation that are fundamental for the research and wider communities.Read moreRead less
The Psychology of Misinformation—Towards A Theory-driven Understanding. The project aims to develop a psychological theory of misinformation effects. Misinformation influences people’s memory, reasoning and decision-making even after corrections – it thus poses a significant challenge for science and society. Through the combination of systematic experimentation with theory-driven computational modelling, the project will strive to concurrently consider individual-level cognition and the impact ....The Psychology of Misinformation—Towards A Theory-driven Understanding. The project aims to develop a psychological theory of misinformation effects. Misinformation influences people’s memory, reasoning and decision-making even after corrections – it thus poses a significant challenge for science and society. Through the combination of systematic experimentation with theory-driven computational modelling, the project will strive to concurrently consider individual-level cognition and the impact of sociocultural context. It is anticipated that this novel integrative approach will substantially expand our understanding of misinformation effects, and that this theoretical progress will result in the formulation of specific communication strategies to reduce the impact of misinformation on society.Read moreRead less
Executive functioning, gender, age and medication as predictors of developmental well-being among students with ADHD. This study constructs social-cognitive phenotypes of ADHD, evaluates mental health and investigates ADHD student perceptions of classroom environment and achievement in science as functions of executive functioning, gender, age and medication. The effect of standard psychostimulant intervention and a novel nonpsychostimulant option on executive function, developmental and educati ....Executive functioning, gender, age and medication as predictors of developmental well-being among students with ADHD. This study constructs social-cognitive phenotypes of ADHD, evaluates mental health and investigates ADHD student perceptions of classroom environment and achievement in science as functions of executive functioning, gender, age and medication. The effect of standard psychostimulant intervention and a novel nonpsychostimulant option on executive function, developmental and educational outcomes will be investigated. The expected outcomes will inform more effective teacher professional development, and reduce school problems associated with psychostimulant medication and its illicit distribution by students. The linkage of health and education partners meets a nationally identified need for more effective collaboration to improve education outcomes for ADHD students.Read moreRead less
Combating Misinformation – Designing a Toolkit to Address a Global Problem. Misinformation impairs people’s cognition – their memory, reasoning and judgements – even if credible corrections are issued; it therefore poses a significant threat to evidence-based practice and policy. This project aims to develop novel psychological interventions to reduce the impact of misinformation, based on an experimental research program designed to systematically assess the effects of various types of misinfor ....Combating Misinformation – Designing a Toolkit to Address a Global Problem. Misinformation impairs people’s cognition – their memory, reasoning and judgements – even if credible corrections are issued; it therefore poses a significant threat to evidence-based practice and policy. This project aims to develop novel psychological interventions to reduce the impact of misinformation, based on an experimental research program designed to systematically assess the effects of various types of misinformation on cognition and behaviour. The expected outcome is the development of new knowledge regarding misinformation processing and communication and its translation into a toolkit for practical application. This promises to improve individual and public decision making and foster a culture of accurate information exchange.Read moreRead less
Accuracy and cost-effectiveness of technology-assisted dietary assessment. This project aims to compare leading methods for technology-assisted dietary assessment. Excessive cost and questionable accuracy limit the routine use of dietary assessment and undermine decision making in Australia. This project intends to compare three technology methods of assessing diet with the current standard recall method used in population surveys in order to confirm if the use of food images and automated metho ....Accuracy and cost-effectiveness of technology-assisted dietary assessment. This project aims to compare leading methods for technology-assisted dietary assessment. Excessive cost and questionable accuracy limit the routine use of dietary assessment and undermine decision making in Australia. This project intends to compare three technology methods of assessing diet with the current standard recall method used in population surveys in order to confirm if the use of food images and automated methods provide new approaches to improve accuracy and consumer acceptability. Expected outcomes of this project include more accurate and acceptable methods of assessing dietary intake. These findings will inform decision making for researchers, policy makers and practitioners in Australia, and potentially lead to more regular population surveillance.Read moreRead less