Evaluative learning: do all roads lead to Rome? This project aims to enhance understanding of how likes and dislikes are acquired and changed across a range of different settings. Evaluative learning, the acquisition and change of likes and dislikes, is ubiquitous and occurs in situations that range from trivial to traumatic. However, it is unknown whether evaluative learning in these different situations is mediated by a single or distinct learning mechanisms. Answering this question is critica ....Evaluative learning: do all roads lead to Rome? This project aims to enhance understanding of how likes and dislikes are acquired and changed across a range of different settings. Evaluative learning, the acquisition and change of likes and dislikes, is ubiquitous and occurs in situations that range from trivial to traumatic. However, it is unknown whether evaluative learning in these different situations is mediated by a single or distinct learning mechanisms. Answering this question is critically important for emotion science and the design of effective interventions for anxiety disorders and public health campaigns. The expected outcomes from this project will provide significant benefits, such as creating new knowledge to assist in applied areas ranging from the design of public health messages to the treatment for anxiety.Read moreRead less
Mapping the learning mechanisms linking adversity with maladjustment. Exposure to adversity, such as violence, neglect and natural disasters, is common and a powerful risk factor for emotional maladjustment. Yet knowledge of the underlying mechanisms linking adversity with emotional maladjustment is remarkably limited. By drawing from theories of adversity and learning and utilising novel experimental methodology, this project aims to map how adverse experiences have different negative effects o ....Mapping the learning mechanisms linking adversity with maladjustment. Exposure to adversity, such as violence, neglect and natural disasters, is common and a powerful risk factor for emotional maladjustment. Yet knowledge of the underlying mechanisms linking adversity with emotional maladjustment is remarkably limited. By drawing from theories of adversity and learning and utilising novel experimental methodology, this project aims to map how adverse experiences have different negative effects on daily emotional wellbeing by disrupting the mechanisms underlying how people learn to acquire and reduce reactivity to new threats. Expected benefits include new knowledge about the pathways linking adversity with psychopathology as well as the vital evidence-base for clear targets for behavioural interventions. Read moreRead less
Uncovering the coping toolbox for social and academic resilience in youth. This project aims to provide important new knowledge on youth stress, life adversity and coping to assist the development of efficient and successful resilience programs. Coping with stress is the number one concern of today's Australian teenagers. The project intends to address coping flexibility and resilience across the transition of youth from primary to secondary school and through the final years of secondary school ....Uncovering the coping toolbox for social and academic resilience in youth. This project aims to provide important new knowledge on youth stress, life adversity and coping to assist the development of efficient and successful resilience programs. Coping with stress is the number one concern of today's Australian teenagers. The project intends to address coping flexibility and resilience across the transition of youth from primary to secondary school and through the final years of secondary school. Expected outcomes include findings that can be translated into interventions that can assist individuals coping with life transitions at any age and those facing significant social, medical, workplace or academic stressors in other times of their life.Read moreRead less
A framework for adapting child interview protocols in complex cases. This project aims to develop–in collaboration with Aboriginal and other industry co-researchers–a ‘how to’ framework for effectively adapting standard child abuse interview protocols to accommodate the complexities that create barriers to disclosure. Complex cases necessitate interview adaption, but it requires systematic guidance and an interdisciplinary, practitioner-driven approach to be effective. This innovative framework ....A framework for adapting child interview protocols in complex cases. This project aims to develop–in collaboration with Aboriginal and other industry co-researchers–a ‘how to’ framework for effectively adapting standard child abuse interview protocols to accommodate the complexities that create barriers to disclosure. Complex cases necessitate interview adaption, but it requires systematic guidance and an interdisciplinary, practitioner-driven approach to be effective. This innovative framework is expected to have long-term benefits for services that support children’s well-being, through improvements in the quality of evidence underpinning decisions. By enhancing interviewer capability, there will also be fewer cases prematurely exiting the justice system before forensic interview or investigation.Read moreRead less
Improving workplace productivity via an AI-based physical activity chatbot . This project aims to develop, train and evaluate a physical activity chatbot using artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve workplace productivity in sedentary office workers. Productivity losses, due to high numbers of physically inactive workers, cost the Australian economy $14 billion per year. The cost of effective and scalable workplace physical activity programs acts as a barrier to their implementa ....Improving workplace productivity via an AI-based physical activity chatbot . This project aims to develop, train and evaluate a physical activity chatbot using artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve workplace productivity in sedentary office workers. Productivity losses, due to high numbers of physically inactive workers, cost the Australian economy $14 billion per year. The cost of effective and scalable workplace physical activity programs acts as a barrier to their implementation. As such, innovative programs that can reach large numbers of workers at minimal cost are needed. This project aims to generate new knowledge on the use of artificial intelligence to achieve behavioural improvements and will lead to the development of a new type of behaviour change program with broad applicability.
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Every Day Matters: Reducing School Non-Attendance in Autistic Students. Autistic children miss one day a week of school, three times more than their peers. This significantly impacts their learning, wellbeing and later, their vocational outcomes. This project aims to identify the factors that put autistic children at increased risk of missing school and map the supports and interventions used to reduce school non-attendance. Expected outcomes include an autism-specific model of the how and why s ....Every Day Matters: Reducing School Non-Attendance in Autistic Students. Autistic children miss one day a week of school, three times more than their peers. This significantly impacts their learning, wellbeing and later, their vocational outcomes. This project aims to identify the factors that put autistic children at increased risk of missing school and map the supports and interventions used to reduce school non-attendance. Expected outcomes include an autism-specific model of the how and why school non-attendance is elevated for autistic students. It is anticipated that this model make the important step of enabling teachers and professionals to identify which autistic children are most at risk of absenteeism and select the best strategies to support a positive and beneficial return to school.Read moreRead less
The emotional face: What determines preferential expression processing. The processing of facial expressions of emotion is essential for successful social functioning. However, we still lack a good understanding of key factors that facilitate or impede the processing of these important social signals. The current project aims to address this knowledge gap by providing a) a more rigorous test of the currently dominant account of expression processing, the evaluative congruence account, and deline ....The emotional face: What determines preferential expression processing. The processing of facial expressions of emotion is essential for successful social functioning. However, we still lack a good understanding of key factors that facilitate or impede the processing of these important social signals. The current project aims to address this knowledge gap by providing a) a more rigorous test of the currently dominant account of expression processing, the evaluative congruence account, and delineating how b) contextual factors and c) person knowledge affect expression processing. The research aims to advance our understanding of facial expression processing, to build international collaborations, and to train the next generation of emotion scientists.Read moreRead less
CogChip: development of a targeted genotyping chip for executive function. This project aims to use DNA sequencing technology to identify the genetics of executive function. Our capacities to focus on a task at hand, to filter distractions and to inhibit unwanted impulses, are collectively referred to as executive functions. Executive function varies on a continuum in the general population across the lifespan, with individual differences largely due to differences in underlying genetics. The pr ....CogChip: development of a targeted genotyping chip for executive function. This project aims to use DNA sequencing technology to identify the genetics of executive function. Our capacities to focus on a task at hand, to filter distractions and to inhibit unwanted impulses, are collectively referred to as executive functions. Executive function varies on a continuum in the general population across the lifespan, with individual differences largely due to differences in underlying genetics. The project proposes to leverage this knowledge to develop a customised genotyping chip, which may find application for prediction of individual differences in executive ability across multiple settings including education and industry. Expected outcomes for the project will include breakthrough insights into the biology of cognition, and a genetic read-out of individual differences in executive ability, which could have broad application including the potential to facilitate the targeting of cognitive, educational or workplace training for those most at risk of adverse outcomes.Read moreRead less
Neurophysiological predictors of brain stimulation outcomes. This project aims to determine the cognitive and neurophysiological factors that predict an individual’s response to non-invasive brain stimulation used to target learning and executive function processes. Stimulation methods show immense promise for elucidating the causal neural substrates of cognition, and for enhancing performance in a range of applied settings. However, there are large individual differences in response to such int ....Neurophysiological predictors of brain stimulation outcomes. This project aims to determine the cognitive and neurophysiological factors that predict an individual’s response to non-invasive brain stimulation used to target learning and executive function processes. Stimulation methods show immense promise for elucidating the causal neural substrates of cognition, and for enhancing performance in a range of applied settings. However, there are large individual differences in response to such interventions. Using advanced imaging techniques, the project aims to provide comprehensive insights into the determinants of these individual differences. Outcomes and benefits include identifying brain characteristics that determine stimulation efficacy and informing the design of protocols for applied use.Read moreRead less
Leveraging lived experience to prevent burnout among healthcare workers. Providing treatment for people with mental health problems or misuse of alcohol and drugs can be emotionally taxing, making staff particularly susceptible to client-related burnout. This proposal aims to examine whether staff who have lived-experience of the issues faced by their clients are buffered from this form of burnout. The proposal further examines whether this buffering effect is brought about by changes in empath .... Leveraging lived experience to prevent burnout among healthcare workers. Providing treatment for people with mental health problems or misuse of alcohol and drugs can be emotionally taxing, making staff particularly susceptible to client-related burnout. This proposal aims to examine whether staff who have lived-experience of the issues faced by their clients are buffered from this form of burnout. The proposal further examines whether this buffering effect is brought about by changes in empathy, attributions, and recovery knowledge from lived-experience. The outcomes of this research will provide the knowledge base to enable future research to develop interventions to reduce burnout, thereby boosting resilience, engagement, and longevity among healthcare staff – ultimately improving client outcomes.Read moreRead less