Psychology Colloquium: Towards domain-general predictive coding: Linking motor and sensory attenuation using TMS and EEG, Dr Dominic Tran, University of Sydney
2022-11-11 15:00 - 16:00 (Australia/Sydney)
Dr Dominic Tran, University of Sydney.I will briefly discuss my DECRA application on response inhibition and then I wanted to share some exciting data recently collected in the lab on predictive coding:
The brain’s response to sensory input is modulated by prediction. For example, sounds that are produced by one’s own actions, or those that are strongly predicted by environmental cues, elicit an attenuated auditory evoked potential measured with EEG. It is thought that this form of sensory attenuation to stimulation produced by one’s own actions is the reason we are unable to tickle ourselves. We examined whether the neural response to direct stimulation of the brain is attenuated by prediction in a similar manner using combined EEG and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied over the primary motor cortex. The findings provide compelling evidence that predictive coding is governed by domain-general properties across distinct neural systems and has shared mechanisms responsible for all forms of predictive learning.
Bio:
Dr Tran conducts research in behavioural and cognitive neuroscience. His research expertise is in learning, memory, and cognition and uses behavioural and neurophysiological methods (e.g., transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography) to investigate the relationship between brain and behaviour. Dr Tran is interested in understanding how our past experiences shape our beliefs, actions, and habits. Dominic is also an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) recipient.

This is a Hybrid event so you can join in person or via the Webinar link below:
HEYDON LAURENCE LECTURE THEATRE 217 (DT ANDERSON) (You are encouraged to please wear a mask if attending in person)
Zoom Webinar Link: https://uni-sydney.zoom.us/s/87311249955

Psychology Colloquium: Consent, assent, and competence determination in dementia care
2023-03-01 00:00
Dr Hojjat Soofi, University of SydneyBio:
Dr Hojjat (Hoji) Soofi is a Lecturer in Bioethics at Sydney Health Ethics (School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health). He is a pharmacist by training and an early career bioethics researcher. He received his PhD and MRes in bioethics from Macquarie University in October 2021 and April 2018, respectively. He is also an alumnus of Erasmus Mundus Master of Bioethics (KU Leuven, Radboud University Nijmegen, and the University of Padua). Before joining Sydney Health Ethics in January 2023, he was an MQCR Postdoctoral Fellow at Macquarie University Research Centre for Agency, Values, and Ethics (CAVE).
Abstract:
I present a strand of my current research program on ethics in dementia care. It involves investigating issues around competence determination. I aim to develop a hybrid externalist/internalist account of competence determination. The account would be externalist in the sense that welfarist considerations can be relevant to judgments of competence inasmuch as they trigger pursuing further evidence of the values of people with dementia. That is, the riskier a decision appears to be, the more stringent the standards of appraising evidence are to be applied. The prosed account would also have internalist elements: the aim is to investigate the individuals’ internal aspects of decision-making and identify what they value (most). I then connect these to another direction of my research on assent: I present an argument to the effect that decisional incompetence should not be conflated with (and does not entail) the inability to ‘assent’ to care.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Susan Nolan: Sex, Gender Expression, and Gender Identity: Embracing Variability, Ending Discrimination, and Enhancing Psychological Well-Being
2023-03-08 12:00 - 13:00
Dr Susan Nolan (Seton Hall University (USA); University of New South Wales (Australia))Bio:
Susan Nolan is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Seton Hall University (USA). She is Past President of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. Susan is conducting a project on global psychology higher education at the University of New South Wales from January through May 2023 as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar. She was also a Fulbright Scholar in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2015-2016, and received the Fukuhara Award for Advanced International Research and Service from the International Council of Psychologists.
Sex, Gender Expression, and Gender Identity: Embracing Variability, Ending Discrimination, and Enhancing Psychological Well-Being
A recent Pew survey found that although about 90% of people in the U.S. report that they know someone who is gay, lesbian, or bisexual, only about 40% report knowing someone who is transgender. The percentage of people who report knowing someone who is intersex seems to be even lower. Although parallel data in other countries are scarce, the pattern is likely to be similar in other Western countries. As psychology instructors and researchers, we can expand our discussions of the variability among humans in terms of sex, gender expression, and gender identity in introductory and advanced psychology courses as well as in our research. This presentation will explore ways in which instructors might incorporate research, as well as stories of people from underrepresented groups, with the goal of reducing stigma and increasing understanding, awareness, and empathy. There is an urgent need for discussions of these and related topics due to the far-reaching psychological repercussions of prejudice and discrimination.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Katharina Helming: Mentalizing and the problem of coordination
2023-03-15 12:00 - 13:00
Dr Katharina Helming (Department of Philosophy at Leipzig University)Abstract
Common knowledge, that is the ability to know things together, underlies uniquely human forms of coordination. However, there is a puzzle in the existing literature about how to characterize this kind of knowledge. Traditionally philosophers propose that common knowledge requires the ability to compute higher-orders of embedded knowledge states (i.e. I know that you know that I know that you know and so forth at infinitum that X). However, more empirically oriented accounts suggest that recursive mindreading is cognitively too demanding and thus not a plausible basis for human coordination. Instead, common knowledge is said to be achieved either on the basis of short-cuts or an arbitrary cut-off within the spiral of embedded knowledge states. But on such accounts, it remains an open question if and when (after how many steps) certainty about knowing things together can be achieved. The aim of this talk is to propose a new solution to this debate. By drawing on empirical literature across fields such as developmental, social and comparative psychology as well as linguistics I will investigate how people actually solve coordination tasks. A review of the literature shows that there is a reoccurring structure of embedded knowledge states that people use to cooperate successfully in different areas. More specifically, empirical data suggests that people actively generate three levels of embedded knowledge coordinate. Such tertiary structures are known as a “three way handshake” in computer science and can be redescribed as a mutual acknowledgment about content in social interactions. It is concluded that certainty about knowing things together in coordination is achieved based on a non-arbitrary cut-off within embedded knowledge states. The broader implications for the evolution of social cognition are discussed on this basis.

(Special time/place!) Psychology Colloquium: Prof Richard Lucas: Can Happiness Change?
2023-03-23 16:00 - 17:00
SPECIAL TIME (THURSDAY 4-5PM) AND PLACE (SUSAN WAKIL HEALTH BUILDING) CLICK HERE TO REGISTERProf Richard Lucas (Michigan State University)
Abstract
For many years, psychologists have debated whether or not happiness is impacted by our life circumstances. Some argue that life events, such as getting married or becoming unemployed, affect our happiness, whereas others argue that happiness is more or less fixed — regardless of what’s happening in our lives, our happiness is determined by our personality. The scientific results are messy and often contradictory. In this talk, I take a critical look at the science of happiness, identify flaws in the scientific record, and present new results from studies following large, representative samples of people over many years. These results show that happiness isn’t fixed – it can and does change in response to changing life circumstances, often in ways that match people’s intuitions. A more rigorous science of happiness is vital to developing better public policy, interventions, and tools for people to increase their own happiness.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Lindsay Squeglia: Adolescent Alcohol and Cannabis Use: Using Neuroscience to Inform Treatment and Outreach
2023-04-05 12:00 - 13:00
Dr Lindsay Squeglia (Medical University of South Carolina)Abstract
Adolescent alcohol and cannabis use is pervasive and affects the developing brain. Substance use prevention and treatment efforts are typically underutilized and only modestly effective. Utilizing neuroscience in prevention and treatment efforts can make tangible differences in substance use outcomes. Findings from recent neuroscience-informed adolescent substance use treatment interventions will be presented, as well as promising results from a youth-focused, neuroscience-based outreach and educational program.
Biography
Dr. Squeglia is an Associate Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, co-Director of the Youth Collaborative, and current Fulbright Scholar at University of Sydney. Her research focuses on: (1) understanding the effects of substance use on brain development and (2) using neuroscience to improve adolescent substance use disorder interventions.
https://education.musc.edu/MUSCApps/facultydirectory/Squeglia-Lindsay

Psychology Colloquium: A/Prof Fiona Kumfor: The role of social cognition in neuropsychology
2023-04-19 12:00 - 13:00
A/Prof Fiona Kumfor (USYD)Abstract
Historically, neuropsychologists have focused on examining traditional cognitive domains such as attention, memory and visuospatial ability. However, people with some neurological conditions can perform well on traditional neuropsychological tests, despite having difficulties in everyday life. This is particularly the case in frontotemporal dementia, where the earliest changes are in behaviour and personality. In this talk, I will discuss the potential role of tests of social cognition in improving the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia. I will also outline how social cognition impairment manifests in everyday life. Finally, I will discuss how this work might be applied in other neurological conditions which are also characterised by changes in behaviour and personality.
Bio
Fiona Kumfor is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology, a NHMRC Career Development Fellow and a Clinical Neuropsychologist. Her work focuses on improving the diagnosis, management and quality of life of people living with neurological conditions, especially younger-onset dementia. She has published >90 papers and has received >$5.2M in funding. She is currently member-at-large for the International Neuropsychological Society and Vice-President of the Australasian Society for Social and Affective Neuroscience.

Psychology Colloquium: Ashleigh Morse & Iseult Cremen: Behavioural insights in practice: using evidence to improve the delivery of public services
2023-04-26 12:00 - 13:00
Ashleigh Morse & Iseult Cremen (NSW Department of Customer Service)
Abstract
Policymakers in Australia and the world over are increasingly using evidence and data to guide policy decisions. The NSW Behavioural Insights Unit (BIU) partners with NSW Government agencies to use the latest evidence and data to help them deliver better services to citizens. We combine evidence from behavioural sciences and behavioural economics with the experience of service agencies and customers to identify and evaluate what works, when and why to change behaviour.
Ashleigh Morse and Iseult Cremen from the NSW BIU will show how behavioural insights has been used to drive better customer experience and improved outcomes in key Government priorities over the past decade. Using case studies from the NSW Behavioural Insights Unit, they will illustrate the evolution of behavioural insights from ‘nudges’ to data-driven solutions to support regulation and policy design.
Bios
Dr Ashleigh Morse is a Senior Behavioural Advisor in the NSW Behavioural Insights Unit, where she has worked since March 2022. She completed her Bachelor of Psychology (Hons) at Sydney University in 2012, and her PhD in behavioural neuroscience in 2017. In her PhD, she investigated the role of delta-opioid receptors on cholinergic interneurons in the nucleus accumbens shell in mediating specific Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer (PIT). She then worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Wassum Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she used optogenetics and activity-dependent gene expression techniques to locate specific reward memories in the basolateral amygdala. Ash left academia and spent two years working in the Sydney office of the Behavioural Insights Team, where she learned to apply a range of research methods to public policy areas from education to justice. She then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Matilda Centre for Research in Substance Use and Mental Health (USyd) to develop a new model of care to help emergency services workers in NSW manage alcohol and other drug use.
Dr Iseult Cremen is a project manager at the NSW Behavioural Insights Unit (BIU). Iseult is currently leading the BIU’s work on Gender and Behavioural Insights. Prior to her role in the NSW Government, Iseult worked as a behavioural science consultant and researcher at both The Behavioural Architects and The Behavioural Insights Team in Sydney, working on a range of behavioural challenges with public sector clients. Iseult has led field experiments and research projects in the areas of gender and diversity, transport, energy and the environment, industry and health.
Iseult has long been passionate about behaviour change for good using experimental and empirical research approaches. She holds a BA and a PhD in Psychology from Trinity College Dublin. Iseult chose to pursue a career in behavioural insights due to its applicability to real-world contexts and exploring outcomes using in-context evaluations.

Psychology Colloquium: A/Prof Stefan Volk: Last Place Aversion: Relative Status Striving of Low Status Individuals
2023-05-03 12:00 - 13:00
A/Prof Stefan Volk (USYD Business School)
Abstract
Most modern workplaces place high value on teamwork in advancing the goals of the organization, and much research effort has been devoted to understanding and optimizing organizational and team dynamics and behavior. A notable conflict within organizational goals is incentivizing employees to improve both individual and team performance whereas in reality it is not always possible to improve personal status without a cost to the team or organization or vice versa. Desire for personal improvement and ascending in status can be achieved by adding value through extra effort, or by cheating and can have positive or negative impacts on the individual, team and organization. While the dynamics of how individuals strive to improve their status when ranked in the middle of a team, or to retain their status when ranked at the top of a team, has been studied before, little research to date has investigated status striving in relation to individuals ranked at the bottom of a team – i.e. what people do to get out of last place. Thus, it is unclear what behavioural strategies individuals would use to improve their status relative to the team, such as putting in extra effort, or cheating. Further, it is thus far unknown whether conflict between individual and team status affects their status striving – i.e. whether individuals would be willing to put in more effort or sacrifice their teammates in order to get out of last place – and whether these behaviours can be modified.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Sophie Li: Sleep Ninja®: An app to help teens improve their mood with a better nights sleep
2023-05-10 12:00 - 13:00
Dr Sophie Li (Black Dog Institute)
Abstract
Rates of depression are increasing among adolescents. A novel way to reduce depression is by improving sleep. We evaluated whether an app-based intervention for insomnia improved sleep and depression, and whether changes in insomnia mediated changes in depression. We conducted a 2-arm single-blind randomised controlled trial at the Black Dog Institute. Adolescents 12–16 years (N=264) experiencing insomnia symptoms were randomly allocated to receive Sleep Ninja, an app-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy program for insomnia, or to an active control group involving weekly text message sleep tips. Assessments took place at baseline, 6 weeks (post-intervention) and 14 weeks (post-baseline). Co-primary outcomes were symptoms of insomnia and depression at post-intervention (primary endpoint). Intent-to-treat analyses were conducted. The results of the RCT will be presented, along with secondary analyses of the data aimed at examining rumination as a potential mediator between insomnia and depression symptoms.
Bio
Dr Li is a Clinical Psychologist and Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Black Dog Institute. Her current research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying psychopathology and treatment effects, including the effect of transdiagnostic factors such as repetitive negative thinking, sleep disturbance and technology use on disorder development and treatment. She recently led the evaluation of Sleep Ninja®, a smartphone app for adolescent insomnia and also led the development of ClearlyMe®, a cognitive-behavioural therapy smartphone app for adolescent depression and anxiety, which is currently under evaluation. Dr Li also works as a clinical psychologist in private practice.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Celia Harris: Memory Scaffolding: From Theory to Practice
2023-05-17 12:00 - 13:00
Dr Celia Harris (Western Sydney University)
Abstract
Theoretical approaches from philosophy and cognitive science emphasise how experience, cognition, memory, and self are embedded within and distributed among the social and material environment. This ‘scaffolding’ perspective implies that the characteristics of the social and material environment are critical for cognition. This perspective provides new avenues for supporting people to age well, by maintaining and even enhancing cognitive, psychological, and social functioning. In this talk, I discuss evidence from lab-based and field-based research on the ways in which the social and material environment can support memory as we age, including recent extensions to interventions within aged care.
Bio
Celia Harris is Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow at the MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour, and Development at Western Sydney University. She was awarded her PhD in 2010 from Macquarie University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre on Autobiographical Memory Research at Aarhus University, Denmark, before returning to Macquarie as a Macquarie University Research Fellow and then an ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow. Celia’s research focuses on memory in context, aiming to better understand the processes involved in bringing memories to mind and how memory retrieval can be supported by our social and technological environment. She aims to use new knowledge of retrieval mechanisms to develop innovative ways of supporting memory in contexts where it is needed most, like aged care and dementia care settings.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Nathan Holmes: How does the brain integrate sensory and emotional information?
2023-05-24 12:00 - 13:00
Dr Nathan Holmes (UNSW)
Abstract
Animals and people integrate information acquired at different times when responding to novel situations or problems. For example, after being attacked by a boy at school, a child may become fearful of places where the boy had been previously encountered; and after learning the relationship between a particular sound and danger, an animal may become fearful of places where it had previously heard that sound. In the laboratory, this type of integration can be studied using sensory preconditioning protocols in which animals (rats) integrate innocuous sensory information acquired at time 1 (e.g., a sound is paired with a light) with emotional information acquired at time 2 (e.g., the light is paired with brief but aversive foot shock) and, thus, express fear to a stimulus that was never paired with danger at time 3 (e.g., the sound). The project that I will describe uses sensory preconditioning protocols to examine how the brain integrates sensory and emotional information. Specifically, I will present a series of experiments which show that the way in which rats integrate sensory and emotional information depends on characteristics of the stimuli to which they are exposed (e.g., their familiarity) and has consequences for learning about the danger. These experiments are part of a larger research program which aims to advance our understanding of how fear is processed in the mammalian brain. The findings will be discussed with respect to this program and different theories of information processing.
Bio
Nathan Holmes is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and Senior Scientia Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of New South Wales. He is interested in how the mammalian brain processes different types of information; and how motivational states, like fear, change the way the brain processes information. Specifically, Nathan examines how fear influences the processing of innocuous information (e.g., the relation between a sound and a light); how fear spreads across a network of linked memories; and how an established fear memory is updated to include new information. The aim of his research is to develop a theory of how fear influences information processing in the brain, with a particular focus on cells and circuits of the medial temporal lobe.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Ashley Luckman: Investigating reason-based decision-making in the attraction effect and its dimensional extensions
2023-08-11 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Ashley Luckman (University of Exeter)
Abstract
Reason-based accounts of decision-making, such as Query Theory, have been successfully applied to a range of binary preferential choice phenomena, such as default, framing and immediacy effects. In a series of Experiments we explore the role reasons play in multi-alternative choice, particularly the attraction effect. In Experiment 1 we find reasons supporting the target option were generated earlier and in greater quantity than those supporting the competitor, as predicted by Query Theory. This replicates in Experiment 2, when we extend the attraction effect to more complicated stimuli with more attributes. In Experiment 3, we investigated the causal relationship between reasoning and choices by exogenously manipulating the order in which participants generated their reasons. As predicted, the size of the attraction effect was a function of this query order manipulation. Finally we explore the structure of the reasons people generate, and how they relate to attentional processes measured through mouse-tracking/lab methods.

Psychology Colloquium: A/Prof Mac Shine: Noradrenergic modulation of brain network topology and energy landscape dynamics mediates conscious resolution of perceptual ambiguity
2023-08-18 15:00 - 16:00
A/Prof Mac Shine (University of Sydney)
Abstract
Perception is thought to rely upon evolving activity within a recurrent, distributed thalamocortical network whose interconnections are modulated by bursts of noradrenaline. To test this hypothesis, we leveraged a combination of pupillometry, fMRI and recurrent neural network modelling of an ambiguous figures task. Shifts in the perceptual interpretation of an ambiguous image were associated with peaks in pupil diameter, implicating noradrenergic gain alteration in the perceptual switch. We trained a 40-node recurrent neural network to perform a similar perceptual categorisation task, manipulated the gain of the RNN to mimic the effect of noradrenaline and observed an earlier perceptual shift as a function of heightened gain. We then used a dimensionally-reduced form of the RNNs activity to develop two novel predictions: perceptual switches should occur with peaks in low-dimensional brain state velocity and with flattened energy landscape dynamics. We used whole-brain fMRI data to confirm these predictions. These results confirm the core role of the noradrenergic system in the large-scale network reconfigurations that mediate perception.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Laura Bradfield: Striatal and hippocampal neuroinflammation has unique consequences for neuron-glia interactions and action selection
2023-08-25 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Laura Bradfield (UTS)
Abstract
Neuroinflammation has been observed in the striatum and hippocampus of individuals with psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases to different extents, but whether this causes the behavioural disturbances experienced by such individuals or is simply another symptom of their disease is unknown. In our lab we have begun to piece together causal evidence from studies in rats and mice that neuroinflammation in the dorsal striatum, ventral striatum, and dorsal hippocampus alters goal-directed action and choice behaviours in a region-specific manner. Specifically, we injected the endotoxin lipopolysaccharide in each region to induce neuroinflammation in separate cohorts of animals and then tested them on a range of behavioural assays. Rats with dorsomedial striatal neuroinflammation demonstrated aberrant intact goal-directed control in a range of conditions under which control animals did not, such as when fed a high-fat high-protein home chow, or after training that otherwise induced habits. By contrast, ventral striatal neuroinflammation abolished goal-directed action control. In dorsal hippocampus, neuroinflammation produced an acceleration of goal-directed action control in females and a facilitation of Pavlovian approach behaviour in male mice. Immunohistochemical analyses linked the expression of astrocytes but not microglia in the striatum to changes in behaviour, whereas both microglia and astrocyte expression in dorsal hippocampus were associated with behavioural changes. Consistent with these findings, chemogenetically altering the activity of astrocytes in both striatal regions abolished goal-directed action control, whereas this was only partially true for the dorsal hippocampus. Evidence from cell culture experiments confirmed that the activation of both microglia and astrocytes caused neuronal excitation in hippocampal neurons. Together, these results reveal that region-specific differences in neural-glial interactions that result from neuroinflammation lead to different profiles of choice behaviour in a manner that could give insight into the mechanisms underlying psychiatric diseases and neurodegenerative disorders.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Alexis Whitton: How artificial intelligence-enhanced adaptive trials can accelerate personalised mental health treatment research
2023-09-01 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Alexis Whitton (UNSW)
Abstract
In the face of escalating rates of depression among young people, effective and scalable treatments are urgently required. Although a range of different interventions have been found to be effective, the pivotal question is Which treatments yield the greatest benefit, and for whom?
This talk explores a new approach to answering this question, describing the potential of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven adaptive trials to deliver more efficient and personalised treatments. Compared to traditional randomised controlled trials, AI-driven adaptive trials require fewer participants, reach a conclusion earlier, and can identify interactions between intervention effects and individual characteristics, making them a powerful trial design for personalised treatment research.
The ’Vibe Up’ trial is the first application of AI-driven adaptive trial methodology in digital psychological therapy research. Over 12 sequential ‘mini-trials’, >1200 university students with elevated symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress were allocated to receive one of three digitally-delivered psychological or behavioural therapies – mindfulness, physical activity, sleep hygiene – or an ecological momentary assessment control. AI-driven response adaptive randomisation was used to optimise allocation of participants to each trial arm. Over the 12 sequential mini-trials, an underlying mathematical model learned which intervention was most effective for individuals with different symptom profiles. Results indicated that treatment effects differed significantly between subgroups of individuals, supporting a personalised treatment approach. Importantly, treatment effects estimated by the AI model were found to differ from the clinical predictions made by an independent sample of mental health clinicians.
This talk will distil key insights gained from the Vibe Up study, and spotlight the potential of AI-driven adaptive trials in personalising scalable interventions for common mental health conditions.

Psychology Colloquium: Prof Tim Slade: The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use: an overview and deep dive
2023-09-08 15:00 - 16:00
Prof Tim Slade (USYD)
Abstract
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use promotes excellence, innovation and collaboration by bringing together world-leading researchers, clinicians, people with lived experience and community to share skills, synergise data, harness new technologies and trial innovative programs to prevent and treat mental and substance use disorders. This talk will provide a brief overview of the centre, it’s major activities and some exciting projects planned and currently underway. I will then focus more specifically on one of our epidemiology projects, a prospective observational cohort study tracking the young adult outcomes of those supplied alcohol by their parents. Parental supply of alcohol is a relatively common practice in Australia, believed by some parents to be an effective means of teaching their children to drink responsibly. Contrary to this common belief, research suggests that parental provision of alcohol to adolescents is associated with elevated risk of subsequent alcohol use severity and problems. What remains unclear is what mechanisms connect parental supply of alcohol to later alcohol-related harms. In a critical step toward identifying prevention targets, this study used causal mediation analysis, employing robust methods to minimise risk of bias, to test potentially causal mediators of the relationship between parental supply of alcohol and subsequent harms among adolescents. The implications of the findings for prevention of alcohol related harms will be discussed.

Psychology Colloquium: A/Prof Rebecca Collie: Motivational Drivers of Social-Emotional Competence
2023-09-15 15:00 - 16:00
A/Prof Rebecca Collie (UNSW)
Abstract
Decades of research underscores the significance of student motivation for promoting positive academic outcomes. Now, growing awareness is emerging regarding the role of motivational drivers in shaping social-emotional outcomes. In this talk, Associate Professor Rebecca Collie will discuss the role of one motivational driver, perceived social-emotional competence (perceived-SEC). Perceived-SEC reflects an individual’s sense that they can enact socially and emotionally competent thoughts, behaviors, and emotions (Collie, 2020). Emerging research is demonstrating that perceived-SEC is linked with important social, emotional, and academic outcomes. Rebecca will discuss her recent research looking at perceived-SEC among students, as well as in relation to occupational outcomes among teachers.

Psychology Colloquium: Professor Sally Andrews Memorial Lecture on Cognitive Psychology: Prof Susan Hespos: Origins of concepts: what infants can tell us about human cognition
2023-09-22 15:00 - 16:00
Prof Susan Hespos (Western Sydney University)
Abstract
Human cognition is striking in its brilliance and adaptability. To gain an understanding of our species’ extraordinary cognition we investigate the origins and development of these abilities in infants. How do infant’s initial abilities change with experience, and what conditions foster or impede learning? Answers to these questions shed light not only on infants and children, but on people in all cultures because these abilities develop early and never go away. I will present data on what preverbal infants understand about objects, substances (like liquid or sand), and the processes they use to compare events. These factors underlie the everyday cognition for people of all ages, in all societies. By starting with babies, researchers gain insights into infants themselves and into older children’s prodigious capacities for learning. These insights form the foundation that guide our thoughts and actions as adults. Characterizing these cognitive processes could have a transformative impact on artificial intelligence by enabling machines to ‘learn’ in the same way we do.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Daniel Bennett: Take the money and run: investigating the decision to ‘cash out’ of a risky bet
2023-09-29 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Daniel Bennett (Monash University)
Abstract
Contemporary sports-betting products offer a raft of novel in-play betting features designed to incentivise customer engagement. Among these, one prominent feature available on most interactive betting platforms is ‘cash out’. The cash-out feature allows customers who have wagered on an event to forgo their stake in the event prior to its conclusion in exchange for a (discounted) early payout. In spite of its ubiquity in the world of sports betting, it remains unknown how and why bettors use this feature, as well as whether the mere availability of a cash-out option affects betting behaviour. In this talk I will report the results of several recent experiments using a novel experimental gambling task in which participants were offered the option to cash out of their risky bets. Briefly, results suggest (a) that the availability of a cash-out option may incentivise participants to place larger wagers, and (b) that individual differences in use of the cash-out feature are associated with inter-individual differences in self-reported impulsivity in unexpected ways. Although I will focus on the application of these findings to gambling, they also have bearing on a broader class of financial decisions, namely those in which the owner of a risky asset must weigh the guaranteed immediate returns of selling the asset against the potential costs and benefits of retaining it into the future.

Psychology Colloquium: A/Prof Marta Garrido: The Insight of Blindsight
2023-10-06 15:00 - 16:00
A/Prof Marta Garrido (University of Melbourne)
Abstract
Much of what we know about brain circuitry for human vision comes from neuroimaging studies and investigations on people with brain damage. A remarkable example are the studies in blindsight patients, who despite being blind after injury to their primary visual cortex (V1), display remarkable visual abilities. Indeed, blindsight patients can navigate through obstacles, detect motion, and correctly identify emotion in unseen faces. A possible explanation for this apparent paradox is that visual information is conveyed from subcortical structures to other cortical regions, bypassing V1. In this talk, I will present converging evidence from a diverse range of neuroimaging techniques and large data sets, which show this is the case for behavioural salient stimuli charged with motion and emotion information (McFadyen et al., 2019 and Rowe et al., 2023). I propose that the brain circuitry underpinning such residual vision, albeit without awareness, relies on brain shortcuts. These shortcuts may be a means for expediency of information processing and a useful alternative for the preservation and rehabilitation of critical visual functions after brain insult (McFadyen et al., 2021).

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Betty Luu: Confronting Whiteness in Developmental Psychology: Impacts on Ethnic Minority Families in the Australian Child Welfare System
2023-10-13 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Betty Luu (USYD)
Abstract
This talk considers the pervasiveness of Western models of thinking in relation to child development and parenting practices, and its impact on child welfare practices for ethnic minority families in Australia. It highlights key projects I have been involved in at the Research Centre for Children and Families that spurred my thinking about how culture and cultural diversity are conceptualised in the child protection and out of home care context. I first summarise the findings from a casefile review of adoptions from out-of-home care finalised by the Supreme Court in 2017 to show the critical role practitioners and adoptive parents play in shaping the attitudes of children and young people have toward ‘contact’ with their families of origin and their cultural identities. Alongside reflections of my experience as a second-generation Chinese-Australian working within academic research settings, these culminated in a co-written chapter in the Handbook of Critical Whiteness to critique the discipline of psychology with calls for further considerations about the influence of White dominant frameworks of development on approaches to supporting vulnerable families, focusing on ethnic minority families in the Australian child welfare system. Cultural competence is critical to improving research and practice: to know what aspects of a child and family’s culture are relevant for consideration to ensure safety and wellbeing.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Kate Storrs: Learning about the world by learning about images
2023-10-20 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Kate Storrs (University of Auckland)
Abstract
Computational visual neuroscience has come a long way in the past 10 years. Deep neural networks can recognise objects with near-human accuracy, and predict brain activity in the ventral visual cortex better than any previous models. However, vision is far from explained. Our most successful models have been supervised to recognise objects in images using ground-truth labels for millions of examples. Brains have no such access to the ground truth, and must instead learn directly from sensory data. Unsupervised deep learning, in which networks learn statistical regularities in their data by compressing, extrapolating or predicting images and videos, presents a more ecologically feasible alternative. We have been using unsupervised deep learning, combined with computer-rendered artificial environments and psychophysics experiments, as a framework to understand how brains learn rich scene representations without ground-truth information about the world. I will explore how unsupervised networks trained on environments of 3D rendered objects with varying shape, material and illumination, spontaneously come to encode these properties of the environment in their internal representations. More strikingly, they can predict, on an image-by-image basis, patterns of errors made by human observers. Unsupervised deep learning may provide a powerful framework for exploring how perceptual dimensions and categories arise.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Karly Turner: Investigating the psychological and neural links between habitual, impulsive and compulsive behaviours
2023-10-27 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Karly Turner (UNSW)
Abstract
It has been suggested that habits spiral out of control to produce compulsive behaviours, such as those experienced in people with addiction and OCD, and this process has been associated with higher levels of impulsivity. However, studying habits in the lab has been challenging and there is limited preclinical evidence for specific stimulus-response associations. To facilitate the translational dissection of the psychological and neural underpinnings of habits, we recently developed a novel paradigm to measure explicit and specific stimulus-response behaviours in rats. Using this task, we can dissociate impaired goal-directed control from habits, which is critical for understanding behaviour relevant to mental health disorders. In addition, this behaviour is persistent despite negative feedback, reflecting a core feature of compulsivity. In a separate series of experiments, we have also established a link between habits and high levels of impulsivity. Using fibre photometry and optogenetics, we have begun examining the role of the nucleus accumbens in impulsive actions. By developing new knowledge about the psychological and neural processes that support habits, impulsive and compulsive behaviours, we hope to advance the development of more effective interventions.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Mike Kendig: Effects of diet on cognition in animal models and humans
2023-11-03 15:00 - 16:00
Dr MIke Kendig (UTS)
Abstract
Processed foods rich in fat, sugar and salt now form a substantial part of the modern diet of most countries around the world, including Australia. Studies in human and rodents indicate that in addition to negative effects on physical health, high-fat, high-sugar foods are associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment. However, such foods are rarely eaten exclusively, and more commonly form part of diverse diets that vary over the short- and long-term. The cognitive effects of high-fat, high-sugar foods eaten under these conditions are less well understood. Here I will review our work on the effects of intermittent access to (a) 10% sucrose solution, and (b) a high-fat, high-sugar ‘cafeteria’ diet on cognition and behaviour in rats, and the relationship of cognitive effects to changes in gut microbiota composition. The results of a clinical trial of sugar drink reduction in young healthy adults will also be presented.

HDR Symposium
2023-11-10 09:00 - 16:30
School of Psychology staff and postgraduate students are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Time
Given name
Surname
Presentation
Supervisor
9.00
Welcome

9.10
Adrienne
Turnell
Research Plan – PhD
Mark Dadds
9.30
He (Hester)
Xiao
Research Plan – PhD
Carolyn Maccann
9.50
Sarah
Walker
Final – PhD
Carolyn Maccann
10.10
Ellen
Shi
Research Plan – PhD
Fiona White
10.30
Yuan (Sue)
Ji
Research Plan – PhD
Ilan Dar-Nimrod
10.50
Break

11.00
Rachael
Yu
Research Plan – PhD
Sharon Naismith
11.20
Isabelle
Kaiko
Final – PhD
Muireann Irish
11.40
Federica
Conti
Final – PhD
Muireann Irish
12.00
Thomas
Nicholl
Final – PhD
Maree Abbott
12.20
Jordan
Martenstyn
Final – MCP/PhD
Caroline Hunt
12.40
Lunch

13.20
Esther
Chan
Research Plan – PhD
Suncica Lah
13.40
Arabella
Vaughan
Final – PhD
Damian Birney
14.00
Ming
Lim
Final – PhD
Damian Birney
14.20
Benjamin Kai
Ni
Final – PhD
Sabina Kleitman
14.40
Lillian
Darke
Final – PhD
Helen Paterson
15.00
Break

15.10
Shu
Chen
Final – PhD
Evan Livesey
15.30
Tessa
Rooney
Final – PhD
Benedict Colagiuri
15.50
Winston
Tan
Final – PhD
Benedict Colagiuri
16.10
Jacob
Coorey
Research Plan – MPhil
David Alais
16.30
End

Psychology Colloquium: Prof Carl Bergstrom : The impediments to high-risk, high-return research
2023-11-17 15:00 - 16:00
Prof Carl Bergstrom (University of Washington)
Abstract
Scientific researchers may be driven by curiosity, but they are constrained by the realities of the scientific ecosystems in which they operate and motivated by the incentives with which they are confronted. We can use mathematical models of the research enterprise to understand how scientific norms and institutions shape the questions we ask, the efficiency with which we work, and the discoveries we make about the world around us. In this talk I present a pair of mathematical models aimed at revealing why scientists are reluctant to propose and conduct high-risk research. In the first vignette we look at how peer review filters — ex ante review as for grant proposals and ex post review as for completed manuscripts — shape the types of questions that researchers pursue. In the second vignette, we develop an economic “hidden action” model to explore how the unobservability of risk and effort discourages risky research. Scientific norms and institutions are not god-given; we create and maintain them. If we can understand their consequences, we have the potential to nudge the norms and institutions in directions better tailored to our contemporary research questions and technologies.

Psychology Colloquium: Professor Emerita Phyllis Butow: How hard should we try? Evaluating implementation strategies for embedding an anxiety/depression clinical pathway into routine oncology practice
2024-02-23 15:00 - 16:00
Professor Emerita Phyllis Butow (USYD)Bio
Prof Phyllis Butow (BA(Hons), MPH, MClinPsych, PhD) is Emeritus Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney. She founded the Australian Psycho-Oncology Co-operative Research Group (PoCoG) and the Centre for Medical Psychology and Evidence-based Decision-making (CeMPED). Prof Butow has worked for over 30 years leading research in health professional-patient communication and Psycho-Oncology. She has conducted research on psychosocial issues in cancer genetics, doctor-patient communication, patient involvement in cancer consultations and decision-making (including informed consent), interventions to reduce fear of cancer recurrence, implementation of clinical pathways for anxiety and depression in cancer patients, and disparities in outcomes and needs of immigrants with cancer. She has won many awards, including the International Psycho-Oncology Society Bernard Fox award for outstanding contribution to Psycho-Oncology research in 2009, the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia Tom Reeve award for outstanding contribution to cancer care in 2011, NSW Cancer Researcher of the year in 2012, and an Order of Australia (AM) in 2014.
How hard should we try? Evaluating implementation strategies for embedding an anxiety/depression clinical pathway into routine oncology practice
Abstract
Background: Evidence on the efficacy of psychosocial oncology interventions is mounting, yet their inclusion in routine clinical practice remains low. Optimal strategies to facilitate implementation of evidence-based clinical pathways are unclear. Implementation science must guide the next wave of research in our discipline. We developed a clinical pathway for anxiety/depression (the ADAPT CP) and resources to support it, including health professional (HP) training, an online patient intervention and HP and patient portals to facilitate the process. We evaluated two implementation strategies (core versus enhanced) to facilitate implementation of the ADAPT CP in routine care.
Methods: Twelve cancer services in NSW Australia were cluster randomised, stratified by service size, to a core (standard) versus enhanced (more proactive, ongoing support by the research team) implementation strategy for the ADAPT CP over 12 months. All patients at participating sites were offered the ADAPT CP as part of routine care, and if agreeable, completed screening measures at regular intervals. They were allocated a severity step for anxiety/depression from one (minimal) to five (severe) and recommended management appropriate to their severity step. Staff completed questionnaires and interviews prior to, and at 6 and 12 months after implementing the ADAPT CP. Health economic data were collected.
Results: Of 1,280 registered patients, 696 (54%) completed at least one screening, and there were 1,323 screening events (883 in core and 440 in enhanced services) in total. Adherence was high for screening, moderate for referral and low for checking uptake and progress. Adherence was significantly higher when anxiety/depression step was less severe, and in the enhanced versus control arm (p=.02) for step 3 anxiety/depression and trending to significance for step 4. Anxiety/depression dropped significantly between screens. Health service costs (attending medical appointments, use of drugs) were lower in patients following registration on ADAPT CP. The cost of implementing ADAPT CP for individual services was approximately $12,000 a year. Staff perceived the CP as of high value, acceptable, appropriate, fit for purpose for services and a catalyst for change. However, timing screening was difficult, online screening was challenging and burdensome, and referral pathways were sometimes unclear.
Discussion: These results support ongoing implementation effort for the first year of implementation to ensure successful uptake of new clinical pathways in over-burdened clinical services. We need to understand the barriers and facilitators of uptake for psychosocial oncology interventions, and ensure that appropriate resourcing is allocated for this purpose.

Psychology Colloquium: Dr Laura Corbit
2024-03-01 15:00 - 16:00
Dr Laura Corbit (University of Toronto)Bio
I received my PhD from UCLA where I worked with Bernard Balleine studying the neural circuits underlying goal-directed learning. I completed my postdoctoral training in the lab of Patricia Janak at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Centre where I studied how exposure to alcohol altered behavioural control. From there I moved to the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney where I was a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer until 2017 when I moved to the University of Toronto where I am currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology.
My lab continues to study the behavioural and neural control of instrumental learning and reward-seeking behaviours. We are particularly interested in the role of different types of behavioural control and how they are acquired, as well as how life experiences such as diet or exposure to drugs alters learning and behaviour.
Understanding the effects of diet on decision-making and the neural circuits underlying behavioural control
Abstract
Habits provide a rapid, efficient means for decision making however, this comes with a loss of behavioural flexibility. Although striatal circuits are involved in habit learning, little is known about how experiences that accelerate habit learning alter activity in these circuits to promote premature habitual control. Using the outcome devaluation task to distinguish flexible actions from habits, we have found that long-term access to an obesogenic diet promotes habitual behavioural control. I will present data that demonstrate changes to glutamate transmission and microglial activity following the obesogenic diet, pharmacological reversal of which restored goal-directed control. These results have important implications for understanding failures of behavioural control and strategies for improving behavioural flexibility.

Psychology Colloquium: ECR Firetalk Presentations
2024-03-08 15:00 - 16:00
School of Psychology ECRs (USYD)Speakers
1) Nathan Cross
2) Sarah Ratcliff
3) Sarah Barakat
4) Jaimie Northam
5) Kristina Horne
6) Saoirse Desai
7) Nick Everett
8) Matt Davidson
9) Laura Sperl
10) Janelle Cleary
