Improving academic outcomes by moderating anxiety in children with autism. The project aims to investigate links between anxiety and academic enablers for children with autism. As a group, these children are currently achieving at lower rates than their peers, with implications for their future social and economic wellbeing. Effective interventions to improve educational outcomes are lacking. This project will investigate how anxiety, a commonly occurring condition in autism, impacts attitudes a ....Improving academic outcomes by moderating anxiety in children with autism. The project aims to investigate links between anxiety and academic enablers for children with autism. As a group, these children are currently achieving at lower rates than their peers, with implications for their future social and economic wellbeing. Effective interventions to improve educational outcomes are lacking. This project will investigate how anxiety, a commonly occurring condition in autism, impacts attitudes and behaviours that facilitate students’ participation in and ability to benefit from academic instruction in the classroom. Findings are intended to provide an evidence base for the development of an intervention suitable for use by service providers to increase academic achievement in children with autism.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101108
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$352,000.00
Summary
The ups and downs of visuospatial attention. The brain has a remarkable capacity to provide a coherent experience of the world by seamlessly integrating sights and sounds from different locations. It is only after brain damage, or when faced with a high attentional load, that our limitations become apparent. The project aims to investigate these limitations by determining how spatial location influences attention in relation to distractibility, cross-modal input and emotionality. Eye tracking an ....The ups and downs of visuospatial attention. The brain has a remarkable capacity to provide a coherent experience of the world by seamlessly integrating sights and sounds from different locations. It is only after brain damage, or when faced with a high attentional load, that our limitations become apparent. The project aims to investigate these limitations by determining how spatial location influences attention in relation to distractibility, cross-modal input and emotionality. Eye tracking and physiological measures of arousal will be combined with traditional cognitive measures to provide a deeper understanding of spatial attention. This project aims to improve attentional models and develop innovative strategies to increase safety by decreasing inattention and distraction.Read moreRead less
Approaching the Out group Unlocks Intergroup Contact's Benefits for Society. Extensive research on group desegregation shows that intergroup contact (face-to-face interactions between people of opposing groups) should be encouraged for harmonious group relations; such contact maximises social integration, self-esteem, health, and productivity. However, these benefits are often missed as people actively avoid intergroup contact. This research introduces a theoretically- and empirically-grounded t ....Approaching the Out group Unlocks Intergroup Contact's Benefits for Society. Extensive research on group desegregation shows that intergroup contact (face-to-face interactions between people of opposing groups) should be encouraged for harmonious group relations; such contact maximises social integration, self-esteem, health, and productivity. However, these benefits are often missed as people actively avoid intergroup contact. This research introduces a theoretically- and empirically-grounded typology of contact approach-avoidance that aims to: identify personal and situational determinants driving out-group approach in natural settings; delineate outcomes of out-group approach for psychological processes critical to intergroup relations; and, indicate new interventions for encouraging intergroup contact.Read moreRead less
Stereotype threat, disengagement, and wellbeing among older employees. This project aims to identify when and how stereotype threat leads to disengagement among older workers and consequences for their wellbeing. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of the factors that predict who will experience disengagement at work, withdrawal of effort, reduced job satisfaction, and increased likelihood of quitting as a result of demeaning age-related stereotypes. The project’s results should pro ....Stereotype threat, disengagement, and wellbeing among older employees. This project aims to identify when and how stereotype threat leads to disengagement among older workers and consequences for their wellbeing. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of the factors that predict who will experience disengagement at work, withdrawal of effort, reduced job satisfaction, and increased likelihood of quitting as a result of demeaning age-related stereotypes. The project’s results should provide a clearer theoretical understanding of stereotype threat and can be used to inform strategies for enhancing engagement at work. This project should benefit and improve the working lives of older employees.Read moreRead less
Taking advice: Limits and potentials of social decision-making in older age. Older adults are increasingly victims of financial fraud and abuse. While well-intentioned advice has the potential to improve financial decision-making, ill-intentioned advice can lead to exploitation. This project will use extensive behavioural testing to establish the factors governing how much weight older adults give to advice depending on the type of advisor, the type of advice, and feedback about advice quality. ....Taking advice: Limits and potentials of social decision-making in older age. Older adults are increasingly victims of financial fraud and abuse. While well-intentioned advice has the potential to improve financial decision-making, ill-intentioned advice can lead to exploitation. This project will use extensive behavioural testing to establish the factors governing how much weight older adults give to advice depending on the type of advisor, the type of advice, and feedback about advice quality. The outcome will be a model of the influence of advice on decision-making in ageing. This will provide an evidence base to create best practice guidelines, interventions, and decision aids that will reduce exploitation and increase the independence and wellbeing of Australia’s rapidly ageing population.Read moreRead less
Reducing social frailty in late adulthood. Social frailty is one of the most troubling and potentially devastating threats to healthy adult ageing, and refers broadly to low social engagement status. This project aims to test how age-related changes in the abilities that allow us to perceive, interpret and process social information drive resilience and risk for this important threat to successful ageing, and then leverage these data to create a training tool that directly targets those abilitie ....Reducing social frailty in late adulthood. Social frailty is one of the most troubling and potentially devastating threats to healthy adult ageing, and refers broadly to low social engagement status. This project aims to test how age-related changes in the abilities that allow us to perceive, interpret and process social information drive resilience and risk for this important threat to successful ageing, and then leverage these data to create a training tool that directly targets those abilities identified as being most strongly linked to social frailty. Enhancing older adults' resilience to social frailty should generate significant and far-reaching benefits, including greater independence of ageing Australians, and reduced burden on health and welfare support infrastructure. Read moreRead less
A community based social identity approach to loneliness. Loneliness across Australia is a deep concern. Social prescribing is a novel community-based approach to managing loneliness, however it is unclear when and in what circumstances it is effective. This project aims to test a social identity approach to loneliness, incorporating longitudinal, cross-sectional, and experimental methods to understand how best to engage isolated people in group programs. The expected benefits of this project ar ....A community based social identity approach to loneliness. Loneliness across Australia is a deep concern. Social prescribing is a novel community-based approach to managing loneliness, however it is unclear when and in what circumstances it is effective. This project aims to test a social identity approach to loneliness, incorporating longitudinal, cross-sectional, and experimental methods to understand how best to engage isolated people in group programs. The expected benefits of this project are to produce a validated social prescribing model that can be implemented in multiple settings across Australia in order to reduce loneliness, strengthen communities, and guide more appropriate uses of health services.Read moreRead less
The impact of light intensity during night shifts on circadian adaptation. Each year, the sleep loss and body clock disruption caused by night work cost the Australian economy $2–3 billion in lost productivity, impaired well-being, and poor health. Current regulations limit sequences of night shifts to a maximum of four in a row. However, recent research suggests that this blanket limit may be a well-intentioned, but ill-informed, policy. As a result, we may be inadvertently increasing, rather t ....The impact of light intensity during night shifts on circadian adaptation. Each year, the sleep loss and body clock disruption caused by night work cost the Australian economy $2–3 billion in lost productivity, impaired well-being, and poor health. Current regulations limit sequences of night shifts to a maximum of four in a row. However, recent research suggests that this blanket limit may be a well-intentioned, but ill-informed, policy. As a result, we may be inadvertently increasing, rather than reducing, work-related fatigue. This project will determine whether longer sequences of night shifts may reduce sleep loss and body clock disruption in some workplaces. The project will provide the evidence base for a more nuanced approach to fatigue regulation and a safer workplace for Australian shiftworkers. Read moreRead less
The role of non-visual cues in regulating perception and skilled movement. This project aims to investigate the impact of non-visual sensory information on what we see and how we move. The project intends to enhance understandings of how information from our senses is combined and how this might inform the development of simulators which are increasingly used as tools for training. Expected outcomes include methods for optimising the design of simulator technologies used in a wide range of medic ....The role of non-visual cues in regulating perception and skilled movement. This project aims to investigate the impact of non-visual sensory information on what we see and how we move. The project intends to enhance understandings of how information from our senses is combined and how this might inform the development of simulators which are increasingly used as tools for training. Expected outcomes include methods for optimising the design of simulator technologies used in a wide range of medical, military and industrial training applications.Read moreRead less
The sensory prerequisites of effective simulator-based pilot training. This Project aims to investigate the use of head-mounted virtual reality systems for training, with specific focus on the aviation industry. The Project expects to improve our understanding of how pilots combine information from their sensory systems in order to successfully operate an aircraft. Expected outcomes include methods for specifying the optimal design of simulators intended to prepare pilots for a specific task, wi ....The sensory prerequisites of effective simulator-based pilot training. This Project aims to investigate the use of head-mounted virtual reality systems for training, with specific focus on the aviation industry. The Project expects to improve our understanding of how pilots combine information from their sensory systems in order to successfully operate an aircraft. Expected outcomes include methods for specifying the optimal design of simulators intended to prepare pilots for a specific task, with the ultimate goal of developing and validating a prototype training device. The outcomes are expected to benefit many areas of pilot training by improving the design and optimising the cost of simulator technologies at a time when the aviation industry is struggling to meet the global demand for new pilots.Read moreRead less