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
Unravelling A New Fatty Acid Pathway Involved In Neuroexocytosis And Memory
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$539,631.00
Summary
This proposal build on the establishment by our laboratory of the assay capable of detecting free fatty acids, with great accuracy and sensitivity. Using this assay we have uncovered a completely new pathway highlighting the production of saturated free fatty acids linked to learning and memory. We will fully define how this pathway is regulated in the brain.
Mid-Career Industry Fellowships - Grant ID: IM230100745
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,050,633.00
Summary
New models of replacement care for working carers. This project aims to investigate the replacement care arrangements that will support different groups of informal carers of a person with a disability, chronic illness or older relative to participate in paid work in contemporary Australia. Using mixed methods, field trials, and an innovative conceptual approach focused on time synchronicity, it will generate critical new knowledge about the characteristics and effectiveness of sustainable repla ....New models of replacement care for working carers. This project aims to investigate the replacement care arrangements that will support different groups of informal carers of a person with a disability, chronic illness or older relative to participate in paid work in contemporary Australia. Using mixed methods, field trials, and an innovative conceptual approach focused on time synchronicity, it will generate critical new knowledge about the characteristics and effectiveness of sustainable replacement care models that enable carers to enter or increase paid work and maintain work/care balance. Significant benefits include improving aged, disability and carer service models and policies to enhance women’s workforce participation, boost national productivity, and improve carer wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Cognitive Enhancement In Schizophrenia Via Selective Oestrogen Receptor Modulator.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$396,380.00
Summary
Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia is resistant to treatment and related to poor community functioning and quality of life. In spite of the widely appreciated magnitude of the problem, there is still a critical gap in our knowledge concerning treatments to reverse these cognitive deficits. The proposed research is significant because it will clarify the role of hormones and genes in relation to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and it may help patients improve their level of functioning.
Activating employment futures through work integration social enterprise. This project aims to understand how Australia can better include people experiencing disadvantage in employment. Social enterprises are increasingly recognised for creating work and pathways into work for those who are typically excluded. Yet, little is known about how they can scale their operations and effectively transition workers into mainstream jobs, and what can be learned from social enterprise in designing other i ....Activating employment futures through work integration social enterprise. This project aims to understand how Australia can better include people experiencing disadvantage in employment. Social enterprises are increasingly recognised for creating work and pathways into work for those who are typically excluded. Yet, little is known about how they can scale their operations and effectively transition workers into mainstream jobs, and what can be learned from social enterprise in designing other inclusive workplaces. Underpinned by a unique learning partnership, this project is expected to shed light on how decent and inclusive work through social enterprise can be grown. Project insights will contribute to more effective employment services and workplaces that increase the shared benefits of a diverse workforce.Read moreRead less
Protecting Against Malaria Through Liver-resident Memory T Cells
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,196,853.00
Summary
We have shown that formation of liver-resident memory T cells (Trm), a newly discovered type of immune cells, can be induced by an innovative vaccination strategy called prime and trap for highly efficient protection against malaria in mice. Here, we will enhance prime and trap vaccination efficacy by defining the conditions that maximize liver Trm-mediated protection and will characterize simian and human liver Trm cells, paving the way to create the most efficient human malaria vaccine to date
From Talking Heads to Thinking Heads: A Research Platform for Human Communication Science. In this project current Talking Head technology will be taken into the realm of a high-fidelity Thinking Head, with implications and applications for basic and applied research. Outcomes will bear on human-machine communication, telecommunications, e-commerce, and mobile phone technology; personalised aids for disabled users, the hearing impaired, the elderly, and children with learning difficulties, forei ....From Talking Heads to Thinking Heads: A Research Platform for Human Communication Science. In this project current Talking Head technology will be taken into the realm of a high-fidelity Thinking Head, with implications and applications for basic and applied research. Outcomes will bear on human-machine communication, telecommunications, e-commerce, and mobile phone technology; personalised aids for disabled users, the hearing impaired, the elderly, and children with learning difficulties, foreign language learning; and will facilitate the development of animation in new media, film, and games. In addition to output in scholarly journals, beta-versions of the Head will be made available, and public visibility for the project will be facilitated by the incorporation of high-profile installations and exhibitions.Read moreRead less
'As-if thinking': an experimental analysis of human reasoning and decision-making. The failure to respond adequately to the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 highlighted the difficulty of sequential decision-making. Responses to such emergencies require detailed contingency plans, necessitating a consideration of all possible outcomes of a situation regardless of their objective probability. This project takes an innovative approach to the experimental analysis of human reasoning and de ....'As-if thinking': an experimental analysis of human reasoning and decision-making. The failure to respond adequately to the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 highlighted the difficulty of sequential decision-making. Responses to such emergencies require detailed contingency plans, necessitating a consideration of all possible outcomes of a situation regardless of their objective probability. This project takes an innovative approach to the experimental analysis of human reasoning and decision-making, with the aim of identifying the mechanisms, factors, and boundary conditions affecting inferences and decisions about uncertain alternatives. The research will inform planning for Australia's readiness to respond to unpredictable events with uncertain outcomes and enhance the reputation of Australian science.Read moreRead less
Music cognition in infants, children and adults. Music is an important tool for the expression of emotion and transmission of culture. One approach to understanding why music is a human universal is to examine how people process musical structure - the simultaneous and sequential pitch relations among tones of musical pieces. We investigate the way humans acquire implicit and explicit knowledge of such relations and the way exposure to music influences acquisition. Three experiments involving in ....Music cognition in infants, children and adults. Music is an important tool for the expression of emotion and transmission of culture. One approach to understanding why music is a human universal is to examine how people process musical structure - the simultaneous and sequential pitch relations among tones of musical pieces. We investigate the way humans acquire implicit and explicit knowledge of such relations and the way exposure to music influences acquisition. Three experiments involving infants, children and adults will compare formal musical training with incidental learning. Results will increase knowledge of the development of auditory perception and music cognition. Infant perceptual predispositions hold implications for music education.Read moreRead less
Associability processes in propositional learning. A novel attentional model of learning is evaluated in this project. In this model, learning is seen not as a consequence of a low-level, evolutionarily old system shared with our ancestors, but as a product of our capacity to apply rules and engage in reasoning. Understanding the role of attention in learning will allow a better understanding of the attentional biases seen in clinical disorders such as addiction and a new way to think about the ....Associability processes in propositional learning. A novel attentional model of learning is evaluated in this project. In this model, learning is seen not as a consequence of a low-level, evolutionarily old system shared with our ancestors, but as a product of our capacity to apply rules and engage in reasoning. Understanding the role of attention in learning will allow a better understanding of the attentional biases seen in clinical disorders such as addiction and a new way to think about the neuroscience of attention. These benefits may further suggest new lines of research in the development of drugs to combat attentional disorders.Read moreRead less