Preventing Early Academic Problems By Improving Working Memory: Translational Randomised Trial
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$831,085.00
Summary
Learning difficulties are common and can cause school failure and poor self-esteem. They are associated with specific problems with temporarily remembering and using information (‘working memory’). Research suggests that improving working memory might improve academic achievement. We will study this intervention in a large group of primary school children who have poor working memory. If successful, the intervention will provide a way to improve the learning skills of these high-risk children.
Optimising students’ academic trajectories: The role of growth (‘personal best’) goals. Too many students fail to reach their academic potential and, as a result, they risk being systematically denied a sense of academic ‘success’ and progress. Through a focus on academic growth (and ‘personal bests’), this research project traverses complex terrain to identify the role of growth goals and growth goal setting in students’ academic trajectories. It also tackles methodological challenges that have ....Optimising students’ academic trajectories: The role of growth (‘personal best’) goals. Too many students fail to reach their academic potential and, as a result, they risk being systematically denied a sense of academic ‘success’ and progress. Through a focus on academic growth (and ‘personal bests’), this research project traverses complex terrain to identify the role of growth goals and growth goal setting in students’ academic trajectories. It also tackles methodological challenges that have impeded research progress in this compelling area. Through strategic international and institutional links, the research program will identify innovative approaches to academic growth and growth goals that will significantly assist pedagogy and psychology aimed at optimising students’ academic potential.Read moreRead less
The Extinction Of Conditioned Fear And Its Implications For Cue Exposure Therapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$322,430.00
Summary
This project studies extinction of Pavlovian conditioned fear reactions in rats. Extinction of these reactions is an animal model for exposure therapy used in the treatment of anxiety disorders in people. In exposure therapy, the patient, aided by the clinician, confronts trauma-related cues in the absence of any overt danger. The intention of this therapy is to reduce the ability of the trauma-related cues to provoke the fear reactions that are undermining the patient's quality of life. In Pavl ....This project studies extinction of Pavlovian conditioned fear reactions in rats. Extinction of these reactions is an animal model for exposure therapy used in the treatment of anxiety disorders in people. In exposure therapy, the patient, aided by the clinician, confronts trauma-related cues in the absence of any overt danger. The intention of this therapy is to reduce the ability of the trauma-related cues to provoke the fear reactions that are undermining the patient's quality of life. In Pavlovian conditioning, subjects (typically rats) are exposed to a signaling relation between an initially neutral stimulus (e.g., a noise) and a feared outcome (e.g., foot shock). When later repeatedly exposed to the initially neutral but now feared stimulus (the noise) in the absence of the feared outcome, the fear reactions it acquired progressively decline until eventually it fails to elicit any such reactions. The fear reactions are said to have been extinguished. There has been significant progress in understanding the psychological processes and neural mechanisms underlying the acquisition of fear reactions, but much less is known about the processes and mechanisms underlying the extinction of these reactions. The project has two general objectives. The first is to determine the conditions of extinction training that promote long-term loss of fear reactions. The second objective is to determine how the brain controls this extinction of learned fear. Achieving these aims will be significant for two reasons. First, it will contribute to understanding the mechanisms by which animals (including people) learn to adjust their behaviour to bring it into line with the current relations that exist between events in the world. Second, it will provide important information about how such adjustment is facilitated or impaired across extinction training and, thereby, contribute towards understanding both the successes and failures of cue exposure therapy for fear-related disorders.Read moreRead less
Solving the inert knowledge problem. A central goal of education is for students to transfer what they learn to new contexts or problems. Indeed, expert reasoning is often characterised by seeing the deep structural commonalities across seemingly disparate situations. However, the knowledge students acquire is notoriously inert, tied to the specifics of the learning examples. This project aims to move towards solving 'the inert knowledge problem' by investigating how humans learn concepts define ....Solving the inert knowledge problem. A central goal of education is for students to transfer what they learn to new contexts or problems. Indeed, expert reasoning is often characterised by seeing the deep structural commonalities across seemingly disparate situations. However, the knowledge students acquire is notoriously inert, tied to the specifics of the learning examples. This project aims to move towards solving 'the inert knowledge problem' by investigating how humans learn concepts defined by abstract relational structure, and by designing educational applications that enhance the use of relational learning mechanisms in students with a wide range of cognitive abilities.Read moreRead less
Transforming primary teachers' representational practices: effects on students' scientific reasoning and discourse within contemporary sciences. Training teachers to appropriately represent and communicate scientific information is critically important for promoting scientific thinking and learning in students. This research is critical to securing Australia's future interests in developing new and emerging frontier science and technologies through the engagement and retention of students.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100731
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$361,744.00
Summary
Contextual supports for the early development of self-regulated learning. How do young children develop critical learning behaviours that are the key for their future academic success? What kinds of environments support this development? This project aims to answer these questions by investigating the development of regulatory behaviours (with a specific focus on self-regulated learning) during the first two years of schooling, and identifying critical contextual variables at home and at school ....Contextual supports for the early development of self-regulated learning. How do young children develop critical learning behaviours that are the key for their future academic success? What kinds of environments support this development? This project aims to answer these questions by investigating the development of regulatory behaviours (with a specific focus on self-regulated learning) during the first two years of schooling, and identifying critical contextual variables at home and at school impacting on this development. Findings from this research will provide crucial information for the design of family and practitioner-based interventions helping to improve the educational outcomes of young Australians.Read moreRead less
Discrimination learning in humans: Associative and attentional mechanisms. This project offers three major benefits: (1) Australian researchers excel in cognitive neuroscience, learning and psychopharmacology, areas based largely on animal models of human cognition. This project contributes to these areas by specifying the relationship between animal learning and human cognition; (2) the project enhances Australia's international reputation in these areas via its collaboration with a scientist ....Discrimination learning in humans: Associative and attentional mechanisms. This project offers three major benefits: (1) Australian researchers excel in cognitive neuroscience, learning and psychopharmacology, areas based largely on animal models of human cognition. This project contributes to these areas by specifying the relationship between animal learning and human cognition; (2) the project enhances Australia's international reputation in these areas via its collaboration with a scientist of Geoff Hall's stature; it also offers students outstanding research training and international exposure; (3) given Chris Mitchell's industry experience and the relevance of this work to advertising/marketing, this project will generate knowledge relevant to, and possible future collaborations with, Australian industries.Read moreRead less
The Development of Creative Thinking Ability in TAFE Design Students. The aim is to develop an instructional framework as a conceptual basis for instruction aimed at TAFE design student use of imagery in creative thinking. The research addresses the challenges of recent post-compulsory education initiatives, which include a more specific focus on the development of creative problem-solving skills, but provide little guidance on instructional strategies. The research will synthesise the framewo ....The Development of Creative Thinking Ability in TAFE Design Students. The aim is to develop an instructional framework as a conceptual basis for instruction aimed at TAFE design student use of imagery in creative thinking. The research addresses the challenges of recent post-compulsory education initiatives, which include a more specific focus on the development of creative problem-solving skills, but provide little guidance on instructional strategies. The research will synthesise the framework from theories about cognitive processes, creative problem-solving and the use of mental imagery; and the results of an imagery training program and creative problem-solving interventions. The outcome will be an instructional framework for guiding the development of student creative thinking in design-based courses in TAFE.Read moreRead less
Evaluating models of category learning that use general feature-based representations. Three competing models of human category learning will be evaluated by comparing their behaviour to human performance on an experimental task where each model makes qualitatively different predictions. A series of theoretical and algorithmic advances will be undertaken to ensure each of the category learning models uses the same feature-based representation. Because the three models propose very different lear ....Evaluating models of category learning that use general feature-based representations. Three competing models of human category learning will be evaluated by comparing their behaviour to human performance on an experimental task where each model makes qualitatively different predictions. A series of theoretical and algorithmic advances will be undertaken to ensure each of the category learning models uses the same feature-based representation. Because the three models propose very different learning processes, their comparison will give insight into the basic cognitive process of categorisation. The algorithms for generating feature representations and modelling human category learning will also have potential for application in data visualisation and information handling systems.Read moreRead less
Psychological User Profiling in the Telecommunications Industry. Recording user behaviour allows businesses to learn about their customers. This is particularly important in telecommunications, since the core business involves a large number of users who vary considerably from one another. This project combines psychological insights with modern statistical methods to develop a psychologically plausible user profiling framework, accounting for the idiosyncratic usage patterns of customers, and t ....Psychological User Profiling in the Telecommunications Industry. Recording user behaviour allows businesses to learn about their customers. This is particularly important in telecommunications, since the core business involves a large number of users who vary considerably from one another. This project combines psychological insights with modern statistical methods to develop a psychologically plausible user profiling framework, accounting for the idiosyncratic usage patterns of customers, and the way in which they change over time. The profiles will be tied to marketing prospects through interviews and surveys. Applied benefits include the ability to predict, understand and act upon user behaviour. The project also adds substantially to theories of memory, individual differences and decision-making.Read moreRead less