Influences on farmer suicide in Queensland and New South Wales. Australian farmers have been identified as being at high-risk of suicide. This project will provide direction for targeted suicide prevention strategies by quantifying the individual and environmental factors that place farmers at higher risk of suicide, as well as the protective factors that may buffer against suicide and suicidal behaviours.
Interpreting intrusions: Illuminating the cognitive mechanisms that fuel obsessional thought. This project aims to evaluate a theoretical model regarding the causal and maintaining role that cognitive biases play in obsessional thought. Obsessions are common in the general population and negatively impact health and daily functioning. Individuals struggle with their obsessions but are unable to disengage from them. A pressing question is: what makes an obsession so “sticky”? To answer this quest ....Interpreting intrusions: Illuminating the cognitive mechanisms that fuel obsessional thought. This project aims to evaluate a theoretical model regarding the causal and maintaining role that cognitive biases play in obsessional thought. Obsessions are common in the general population and negatively impact health and daily functioning. Individuals struggle with their obsessions but are unable to disengage from them. A pressing question is: what makes an obsession so “sticky”? To answer this question, this project aims to employ a novel, computerised experimental methodology to directly manipulate cognitive processes proposed to underpin obsessions. This methodology will be used to alter key biases proposed to drive obsessional thinking, thus shedding light on core psychological mechanisms.Read moreRead less
Improving young people's online safety when talking about suicide. This project aims to improve the safety and quality of online communication about suicide by young people. Suicide is the leading cause of death among young Australians and rates continue to rise. One commonly cited explanation for this is the way in which young people use social media to communicate about suicide. This project will directly address this by testing the impact of a set of evidence-informed guidelines and campaign ....Improving young people's online safety when talking about suicide. This project aims to improve the safety and quality of online communication about suicide by young people. Suicide is the leading cause of death among young Australians and rates continue to rise. One commonly cited explanation for this is the way in which young people use social media to communicate about suicide. This project will directly address this by testing the impact of a set of evidence-informed guidelines and campaign materials that target young people’s capacity to communicate about suicide safely on social media. Expected outcomes of this project include increased online safety for young people. This study also has national and international significance for the social media industry and the safe governance of their platforms. Read moreRead less
Cognitive neuroscience of spatial asymmetry: behaviour, genes and brain imaging. When humans distribute their attention in space, biases or asymmetries of spatial attention exist. Healthy individuals exhibit a processing advantage favouring left space but this advantage is lost in disorders such as unilateral spatial neglect, ADHD and dyslexia. This project will develop novel electrophysiological methods to dissociate the sensory, attentional, decision-making and motoric contributions to spatial ....Cognitive neuroscience of spatial asymmetry: behaviour, genes and brain imaging. When humans distribute their attention in space, biases or asymmetries of spatial attention exist. Healthy individuals exhibit a processing advantage favouring left space but this advantage is lost in disorders such as unilateral spatial neglect, ADHD and dyslexia. This project will develop novel electrophysiological methods to dissociate the sensory, attentional, decision-making and motoric contributions to spatial asymmetries. By interfacing electrophysiology with genetic, neurochemical and brain imaging methods, this project will comprehensively map the biology of spatial asymmetry. This knowledge is vital to developing effective treatments for disorders where atypical patterns of spatial asymmetry index neurological vulnerability.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100260
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$457,378.00
Summary
Refugee moral injury: Linking interpersonal trauma and social functioning. This project aims to understand how moral beliefs about past interpersonal traumatic experiences (e.g., torture, rape) are associated with social outcomes considered to be crucial in successful refugee resettlement. This project will investigate the causal impact of these moral beliefs on social adaptation and whether these beliefs are malleable. The project will be a better understanding of how moral beliefs can impact r ....Refugee moral injury: Linking interpersonal trauma and social functioning. This project aims to understand how moral beliefs about past interpersonal traumatic experiences (e.g., torture, rape) are associated with social outcomes considered to be crucial in successful refugee resettlement. This project will investigate the causal impact of these moral beliefs on social adaptation and whether these beliefs are malleable. The project will be a better understanding of how moral beliefs can impact refugees' abilities to navigate and engage with novel social environments. The outcomes of this project will assist service providers and policy makers to understand why some refugees are able to adapt more successfully than others and provide practical tools for improving social outcomes. Read moreRead less
Social outcomes, behaviour and emotional well-being of adults with autism. It is recognised that autism results in substantial life-long disability. Severe emotional and behavioural problems are likely to be a key factor in precluding adults with autism from work, independent living, social contact, and undermine their quality of life, thus increasing support needs. This project aims to address a major gap in our current knowledge - the association between severe emotional and behavioural proble ....Social outcomes, behaviour and emotional well-being of adults with autism. It is recognised that autism results in substantial life-long disability. Severe emotional and behavioural problems are likely to be a key factor in precluding adults with autism from work, independent living, social contact, and undermine their quality of life, thus increasing support needs. This project aims to address a major gap in our current knowledge - the association between severe emotional and behavioural problems in adults with autism and social outcomes. Identification of markers of adult outcomes aims to lead to an improved understanding of the pathways to better social outcomes, facilitating the development of specific interventions to provide much needed improvements in outcomes for adults with autism.Read moreRead less
When is extinction not extinction? Disorders of fear and anxiety are widespread and impose significant burdens on individual sufferers and their families. This projects studies new ways of augmenting loss of fear and will identify the important behavioural mechanisms as well as critical brain pathways for this fear loss.
Automatic speech-based assessment of mental state via mobile device. This project aims to create the first mobile, device-based automatic assessment of mental state from acoustic speech. Focusing on novel approaches for eliciting speech, for regression-based scoring of mental state and for longitudinal modelling of speech, the project takes speech processing out of the laboratory and into realistic environments. The project is significant because elicitation approach and longitudinal modelling h ....Automatic speech-based assessment of mental state via mobile device. This project aims to create the first mobile, device-based automatic assessment of mental state from acoustic speech. Focusing on novel approaches for eliciting speech, for regression-based scoring of mental state and for longitudinal modelling of speech, the project takes speech processing out of the laboratory and into realistic environments. The project is significant because elicitation approach and longitudinal modelling have been acknowledged by the research community as challenges that are valuable to investigate, and because conventional regression methods are sub-optimal on ordinal mental state scales. This is significant commercially because mobile devices allow individually tailored, frequent and low-cost mental state assessment. Expected outcomes will include commercial-ready technology, trialled on Australians, accessible to everyone with a mobile device and concentration of Australian research and development capability in a rapidly growing application area.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101588
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$392,459.00
Summary
Do physical activity and electronic screen behaviours influence cognitive and psychosocial development in preschool children? Levels of physical inactivity and screen-based entertainment are alarmingly high among preschool children, yet little is known about the independent effects of these behaviours on cognitive and psychosocial development during early childhood. This project will investigate the associations between physical activity and screen-based entertainment and cognitive and psychosoc ....Do physical activity and electronic screen behaviours influence cognitive and psychosocial development in preschool children? Levels of physical inactivity and screen-based entertainment are alarmingly high among preschool children, yet little is known about the independent effects of these behaviours on cognitive and psychosocial development during early childhood. This project will investigate the associations between physical activity and screen-based entertainment and cognitive and psychosocial development in preschool children. The findings will identify how much and which types of these behaviours influence developmental outcomes in young children. This knowledge will benefit parents, educators, health professionals and governments to develop and implement evidence-based strategies and policies to give young children the best start in life.Read moreRead less
The causes of intrusive memories. Intrusive memories are pivotal to many psychological disorders. This project will extend current models of intrusive memories by integrating biological, cognitive, and neural measures to specify the causes of these memories.