Humans as animals and objects: the psychology of dehumanisation. This project will clarify how some individuals and groups as perceived as less than human. It will examine how some groups are subtly seen as animal-like and how some media images objectify individuals. It will yield a deeper understanding of how people may be degraded, dismissed, vilified and dehumanised.
A social psychology of affective disturbance. We are in the midst of a depression and anxiety epidemic that cannot be explained by focusing on individual experiences alone. We desperately need to understand the cultural contributors to depression and anxiety, thereby providing insight into the epidemiology of these conditions. Drawing on experimental studies, longitudinal sampling of daily emotional experiences, and multi-national data, the research will show how cultural contexts may exacerbate ....A social psychology of affective disturbance. We are in the midst of a depression and anxiety epidemic that cannot be explained by focusing on individual experiences alone. We desperately need to understand the cultural contributors to depression and anxiety, thereby providing insight into the epidemiology of these conditions. Drawing on experimental studies, longitudinal sampling of daily emotional experiences, and multi-national data, the research will show how cultural contexts may exacerbate individual-level affective disturbance and demonstrate the processes through which occurs. The findings will make a timely and much needed contribution to public policy decisions and preventive health care.Read moreRead less
Mapping, understanding and manipulating the human brain connectome with MRI. The human brain is an extraordinarily complex network, comprising millions of nerve cells connected by trillions of fibres. Understanding this intricate web of connectivity – the so-called human connectome – has become a central goal of neuroscience and is comparable in scale to the human genome project. This project will develop new brain imaging methods for accurately mapping the connectome. It will investigate how in ....Mapping, understanding and manipulating the human brain connectome with MRI. The human brain is an extraordinarily complex network, comprising millions of nerve cells connected by trillions of fibres. Understanding this intricate web of connectivity – the so-called human connectome – has become a central goal of neuroscience and is comparable in scale to the human genome project. This project will develop new brain imaging methods for accurately mapping the connectome. It will investigate how information is communicated between its different regions and how individual differences in brain network function relate to our genetic make-up. It will also determine whether we can manipulate the function of specific circuits of the connectome in a targeted way, in the hope of developing new treatments for brain disorders.Read moreRead less
Emotion regulation in daily life: Capturing context and flexibility. This project aims to understand the role of contextual and individual factors in effective emotion regulation in daily life. The ability to manage emotions is central to virtually every aspect of psychosocial functioning and wellbeing. However, because research in this domain has relied heavily on laboratory methods, very little is known about emotion regulation as it naturally occurs in daily life. Using cutting-edge mobile te ....Emotion regulation in daily life: Capturing context and flexibility. This project aims to understand the role of contextual and individual factors in effective emotion regulation in daily life. The ability to manage emotions is central to virtually every aspect of psychosocial functioning and wellbeing. However, because research in this domain has relied heavily on laboratory methods, very little is known about emotion regulation as it naturally occurs in daily life. Using cutting-edge mobile technologies, this project aims to uncover when, and for whom, various forms of emotion regulation are most effective in daily life. Besides a significantly improved scientific understanding of emotion regulation, this project is expected to inform the development of novel person - and situation-specific interventions in the many applied domains involving emotion regulation.Read moreRead less
What is the functional significance of mirror neurons? Contrasting the adaptation and association models of the mirror neuron system. Mirror neurons are a type of brain cell that are thought to underlie empathy and cause autism. Alternatively, however, mirror neurons might instead arise from repeated associations between what we see and what we do. This study uses brain stimulation and neuroimaging techniques to determine the function of mirror neurons.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100128
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,000.00
Summary
Information processing in the brain. This project aims to understand the brain's functional organisation by developing non-invasive methods to characterise connectivity between interacting brain regions. No model-based methods to compute directional coupling between brain regions can be applied to large scale networks for resting state functional MRI data. This capability would be a major breakthrough in neuroimaging, given uninformative (non-directional) network connectivity analysis restricts ....Information processing in the brain. This project aims to understand the brain's functional organisation by developing non-invasive methods to characterise connectivity between interacting brain regions. No model-based methods to compute directional coupling between brain regions can be applied to large scale networks for resting state functional MRI data. This capability would be a major breakthrough in neuroimaging, given uninformative (non-directional) network connectivity analysis restricts research. This project is expected to advance our understanding of information processing in the brain by providing a mechanistic approach to functional integration.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101097
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$395,127.00
Summary
Treatment-induced compulsive behaviours: Ethical and policy implications. Compulsive behaviours represent one of the largest preventable burdens in society. Some medications, such as those used to treat Parkinson's disease, can produce severe compulsions in certain individuals, which are akin to addiction. This project will explore: neurocognitive changes caused by these medications; the impact that drug-induced compulsive behaviours have on affected individuals, their sense of agency, identity ....Treatment-induced compulsive behaviours: Ethical and policy implications. Compulsive behaviours represent one of the largest preventable burdens in society. Some medications, such as those used to treat Parkinson's disease, can produce severe compulsions in certain individuals, which are akin to addiction. This project will explore: neurocognitive changes caused by these medications; the impact that drug-induced compulsive behaviours have on affected individuals, their sense of agency, identity and moral responsibility; and the ethical, legal and policy consequences of drug-induced behaviour. This project will help us to understand the neuropsychology of compulsive behaviour and reduce its occurrence. It will also enable society to meet the ethical and policy challenges raised by neuroscience research on compulsive behaviour.Read moreRead less
The neuronal bases of consciousness and attention. Why and how do some electrical activities in the brain make us see, hear and feel pain? Why other neural activities remain non-conscious? This project will utilise visual illusions combined with a range of state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques to understand what kind of neuronal mechanisms underlie attention and consciousness.
The human mind in prediction: conceptual, experimental and practical implications of the theory that the brain is a hypothesis-tester. The relation between the mind and the body is investigated through analysis and experimental studies of the idea that the human brain is essentially a hypothesis-tester. This could radically change our understanding of experience, self and belief, and has the potential to lead to clinical and technological discovery and innovation.