Killing which averts suffering: the role of norms and empathy. Abattoir workers and butchers kill animals to prepare food, farmers to cull stock, and veterinarians to alleviate suffering. Soldiers kill other humans in war, police or security guards to protect the public, and doctors to enact legal euthanasia. Research shows that these tasks can be confronting, and even traumatic. This project aims to test the processes through which people learn socially supported palliative killing to avert suf ....Killing which averts suffering: the role of norms and empathy. Abattoir workers and butchers kill animals to prepare food, farmers to cull stock, and veterinarians to alleviate suffering. Soldiers kill other humans in war, police or security guards to protect the public, and doctors to enact legal euthanasia. Research shows that these tasks can be confronting, and even traumatic. This project aims to test the processes through which people learn socially supported palliative killing to avert suffering and their neural underpinnings, with a focus on norms and empathic distress. It will focus on two core samples: veterinarians, who must euthanize animals, and health practitioners in Victoria, where legal changes will introduce ‘voluntary assisted dying’ in mid-2019. It will investigate how practitioners learn palliative killing, and what the impact is on psychological variables such as empathy and identity. It will generate new understandings of social influence around life and death decisions, provide an evidence basis to inform policy makers, and help institutions and practitioners seeking to manage distress and respond to fast-moving, controversial policy changes.Read moreRead less
How does the interaction between environmental drivers determine the impact of global change on animals? There is an urgent need to determine how vulnerable natural populations are to simultaneous changes in more than one environmental driver. This project will take an integrative approach, using molecular, physiological and ecological tools, to determine whether cellular responses to the interaction between UV-B radiation and temperature vary between populations, and within individuals over tim ....How does the interaction between environmental drivers determine the impact of global change on animals? There is an urgent need to determine how vulnerable natural populations are to simultaneous changes in more than one environmental driver. This project will take an integrative approach, using molecular, physiological and ecological tools, to determine whether cellular responses to the interaction between UV-B radiation and temperature vary between populations, and within individuals over time. This project will bridge the gap between physiology and ecology by testing whether molecular responses translate into fitness benefits for the organism to gain an understanding at a level that is relevant for conservation. Read moreRead less
Western-style diet and impairments in food-intake control in humans. Animals fed a Western-style (W-S) diet high in saturated fat and added sugar rapidly develop cognitive impairments, which include disrupted food-intake control. This project aims to see if this also occurs in lean healthy people who eat a W-S diet. That is, are W-S diets associated with impaired cognition, and especially food-intake control, in adults and children, and is this caused by a W-S diet? Obesity is a major public hea ....Western-style diet and impairments in food-intake control in humans. Animals fed a Western-style (W-S) diet high in saturated fat and added sugar rapidly develop cognitive impairments, which include disrupted food-intake control. This project aims to see if this also occurs in lean healthy people who eat a W-S diet. That is, are W-S diets associated with impaired cognition, and especially food-intake control, in adults and children, and is this caused by a W-S diet? Obesity is a major public health issue and the significance of this project lies in testing a new account of how overeating may first occur. The expected outcome aims to show that a W-S diet can disrupt various aspects of cognition in adults and children, including food-intake control, providing an entirely new basis to argue for a better diet.Read moreRead less
Sleepy and sitting: a dual curse for the modern workforce? This project aims to generate new knowledge about the impact of inadequate sleep and prolonged sitting on health markers and performance. Many workers, particularly those working outside standard hours, experience both prolonged sitting and inadequate sleep. Expected outcomes of this project include critical evidence to address the dual burden experienced by a large population of workers who are both sleepy and sitting. This should provi ....Sleepy and sitting: a dual curse for the modern workforce? This project aims to generate new knowledge about the impact of inadequate sleep and prolonged sitting on health markers and performance. Many workers, particularly those working outside standard hours, experience both prolonged sitting and inadequate sleep. Expected outcomes of this project include critical evidence to address the dual burden experienced by a large population of workers who are both sleepy and sitting. This should provide significant benefits for the many working Australians whose health and safety is compromised due to their exposure to inadequate sleep and prolonged sitting. It will also contribute to the evidence-base for workplace policies and public health guidelines.Read moreRead less
Structured Writing Tasks: Examination of the process of change as indicated by cognitive-behavioural models of trauma. Research demonstrates that structured writing about past upsetting experiences is beneficial for physical and psychological health. The aim of this study is to identify the process of change responsible for these benefits. Three processes, based on trauma theory, have been identified (exposure, devaluation, and benefit-finding) and are manipulated within the writing paradigm. T ....Structured Writing Tasks: Examination of the process of change as indicated by cognitive-behavioural models of trauma. Research demonstrates that structured writing about past upsetting experiences is beneficial for physical and psychological health. The aim of this study is to identify the process of change responsible for these benefits. Three processes, based on trauma theory, have been identified (exposure, devaluation, and benefit-finding) and are manipulated within the writing paradigm. This study will test these processes in predicting future health benefits. It will increase the effectiveness of the writing paradigm for the general population, provide manualised variations of the writing paradigm based on trauma theory, examine patient-matching variables, and provide a base to conduct research in clinical populations.Read moreRead less
Determining the role of disease avoidance in stigmatisation. The aim of this project is to test a disease avoidance model of stigmatisation. Stigmatisation is characterised by chronic avoidance of a person(s) by other people. Infectious disease may produce an apparently similar form of isolation—disease avoidance. This project proposes that many forms of stigmatisation reflect the activation of this disease avoidance system, which is predisposed to respond to signs of disease, irrespective of th ....Determining the role of disease avoidance in stigmatisation. The aim of this project is to test a disease avoidance model of stigmatisation. Stigmatisation is characterised by chronic avoidance of a person(s) by other people. Infectious disease may produce an apparently similar form of isolation—disease avoidance. This project proposes that many forms of stigmatisation reflect the activation of this disease avoidance system, which is predisposed to respond to signs of disease, irrespective of their accuracy. This will represent a significant shift in thinking about this issue and aims to provide the first empirically based model of stigmatisation as an evolved disposition that causes the exclusion of people who look like they may carry an infectious disease - even if they do not.Read moreRead less
Investigation of recognition memory in behavioural, electrophysiological, and functional neuro-imaging domains using state-trace analysis. This project utilises a novel methodology to investigate human recognition memory across three separate domains - behavioural, electrophysiological and functional neuro-imaging. The aim is to determine how these three aspects of memory are related and if they can be united by a single theory.