ClinicalResearch ProjectsAvailable for2016

You candiscusspotentialMastersandPhDprojectswith anystaff intheSchool ofPsychology.Their research interestscan befound at:

Therearealsoavarietyof specificprojectareasthat havebeenoutlined below,somebyexternal supervisors,othersbystaffin theSchoolofPsychology.

ProjectsSupervised bySchoolof PsychologyStaff

Michelle Arnold (Lecturer,SchoolofPsychology)

Iam happytodiscussprojectsrelatedto memory processesand autobiographical memory,and I haveaparticular interestinmetacognitiveissues (i.e.,howwell we monitorour ownmemoryand knowledge). Someofmyresearch projectshave included:

•exploring underlying processes in recovered memories

•monitoring and performance in test-taking situations

•exploring and separating out objective performance (e.g., how many memories you recalled)

•from subjective performance (e.g., how it felt to recall those memories).

Lisa Beatty(Research Fellow, School of Psychology)

Who's engaged?Examining predictorsofengagementwith anonlineself programfor peoplewithearlystagecancer.

Over the past decade, there has been a surge of research examining the efficacy of online therapeutic interventions for a range of psychological and physical health conditions. More recently, research has started to focus on determining: (i) which people use these resources (eg who drops out of the research vs who stays in), and (ii) what predicts whether users login only once versususing the resource extensively (level of engagement). It also remains unknown whether thesedifferences in therapeutic 'dose' leads to significantly different outcomes. This masters project will prospectively examine predictors of engagement (comparing high versus low iCBT users), and attrition (drop outs versus treatment completers) with an online self-help program for people with cancer. This project is a sub-study of a larger NHMRC funded study examining the efficacy of this intervention in reducing distress over time. While the intervention content has previously been developed and tested, the student may be able to assist with revisions to the content as we meet with website developers (if interested).

Mariëtte Berndsen(Lecturer,SchoolofPsychology)

Myprimaryresearch interestliesinthesocial psychologyof emotions, which in general involvesthreeapproaches:First,how doother peopleand our relationshipswith theminfluence our emotionsover and abovetheemotional stimulusitself.

For example,ifyoufearthatfood could becontaminated and you seeother peopleeating this food, doesthis influence your fear (decrease,increase,or not)?And whoaretheseotherpeople(friends, strangers,colleagues)andhowimportantaretheyin influencing your fear?

Second:when,why,and howdopeopleexperience group-based (or collective) emotions, evenwhen theywerenotcausallyinvolved in theharmor injustice. Forexample,whycan non-indigenous Australiansliving nowadays experienceguilt,and/or shametowardstheStolen Generation (IndigenousAustralians)and howdoesthis impactontheir willingness tosocial changetowardsthesevictims?

Third,a relativelynewapproach reducing stereotypesabouta specificgroupof peopleis toask individuals totakethe perspectiveof thisspecificgroup. For example,describing a dayof anolder person“byseeingtheworld through theireyes”,inhibited theuseof stereotypes. Itwould be interestingtoseewhetherthisperspective-taking attitudecan alsoreducestigma abouthospitalisedpersons.

Junwen Chen (Senior Lecturer,SchoolofPsychology)

My research primarily focuses on anxiety disorders, specifically social anxiety(disorder)and excessive worry, as well as the cross-cultural study of these problems in different populations. For 2016, I am keen on supervising projects related to these areas. Examples of projects are:

  • Examining the effects of Behavioural Activation and Self-compassion interventions for academic worry.
  • Investigating the maintaining mechanisms of, and factors pertaining to social anxiety, excessive worry(e.g., cognitive processes such as interpretation bias or post-event rumination; intolerance of uncertainty);
  • Undertaking a cross-cultural comparison of underlying factors and symptoms of these disorders/problems.

Michael Gradisar (Associate Professor, School of Psychology): There is currently 1project on offer that I would have an interest in supervising that would be associated with research being conducted in the Child & Adolescent Sleep Clinic:

  • Many adolescents experience a sleep disorder known as Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, whereby they tend to fall asleep late, yet obtain limited sleep during the school week due to rising 'early'. As a consequence, many report performing poorly at school (e.g., poor grades). This is likely due to them needing to learn in class when their circadian rhythm is at their lowest point. We are currently running a project where we are attempting to find the causes for this poor school performance. The current project aims to compare information processing speed between adolescents with Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder and matched good-sleeping adolescents. As this project is partly run from the Child & Adolescent Sleep Clinic, there is an opportunity to do a placement here too.
  • New research from Norway has identified 33% of those with Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder cannot be woken by an increasingly loud tone. This has implications for ‘night owl’ teenagers who rely on their alarm to wake up in time for school. We have the opportunity to measure such a phenomenon in developing teenagers. That is, as they get older and tend to sleep later, are they at increased risk for poor school attendance?

Eva Kemps (Professor, School of Psychology): I am interested in supervising projects that apply experimental cognitive psychology to the study of health behaviours, in particular eating behaviour and physical activity. Examples of possible projects include:

  • Investigating the role of mental imagery in the experience and reduction of food cravings
  • Evaluating the effectiveness of cognitive bias modification for reducing unhealthy as well as dysfunctional eating behaviour (including emotional eating and over-eating, as well as the consumption of beverages such as energy drinks and soft drinks) and/or increasing physical activity
  • Examining effects of nutrition and/or physical activity on cognition and psychological well-being

Leon Lack (Professor, School of Psychology)

Two funded projects for 2015 that could accommodate a master's project include:

  • We have evidence that insomniacs experience poor days following poor sleeps. We want to explore whether successful treatment of insomnia with CBTi results in a decrease of this relationship as is true for good sleepers and underlies the decreased beliefs about the impact of poor sleep on their subsequent daytime functioning.
  • We are further exploring aspects of Intensive Sleep Re-training, a novel and very promising treatment of insomnia. In particular we aim to translate a presently laboratory administered therapy to the home environment.

Robert Lynd-Stevenson(Senior Lecturer,SchoolofPsychology)

I’mtrained and registeredasa clinical psychologistand workedin thecommunityasa clinical psychologistfora numberofyears. Myprimaryinterestwhenconducting research is tousemodellingmethods(i.e.,nonexperimental methods)toinvestigatevarioustheoriesabouttherole of cognitionsintheaetiologyandtreatment of anxietyand depression.Perhapsabitof background may help toexplainmyresearch interests. Seligman (1966)argued thatthecausal conclusionsreported inmodelling research arejustasvalid asthecausal conclusionsreported in experimental research. Amajor implication of Seligman’s argumentisthatthere’snothing aboutexperimentalresearchto guaranteethatclinical interventions(oranyotherinterventions)actuallyworkin thecommunity.Seligman’sarticlewas criticisedbya numberof peopleand I published amethodological articlein defense ofSeligman’s argument(Lynd-Stevenson, 2007). A fewexamplesofresearch topicsthatI’d beinterested in supervising thatwould involvethe use of modellingmethods(ifyou’recurious,Ican citeexamples fromtheresearch literaturetostimulateyour thinking):

  • investigating the contribution of threat cognitions to the aetiology and treatment of anxiety;
  • the role of cognitions (e.g., automatic thoughts, schema) in the aetiology and treatment of depression;
  • developing a causal model to account for the factors that moderate the influence of clinical treatments in real-world settings.
  • the contribution of social, political and community factors involved in the increasing levels of depression and anxiety reported in Western societies.
  • Another field of interest concerns the scientist-practitioner model (again, if you’re curious, I can cite examples from the research literature to stimulate your thinking):
  • the scientist-practitioner model doesn’t appear to be working as originally envisaged. In what way (if at all) does the model actually work?
  • what are the procedures presently followed around Australia for allocating students to clinical placements in the community?
  • why don’t many clinical psychologists offer placements?
  • what are the factors that students consider make a good supervisor?
  • what are the factors involved in generating student satisfaction with placements?
  • what amount of psychopharmacology should be taught to clinical students?

Julie Mattiske(Senior Lecturer,SchoolofPsychology):ForMastersprojects,I am broadlyinterested in anxiety,anxietydisorders,and health-related issues. I havesupervisedMastersprojectsin arange ofotherareasincluding perfectionism,schizophrenia,and alcohol dependence. Iwould be very happytoserveastheinternal co-supervisor formostof the nominated health projects,e.g., diabetes,oncology.

Mike Nicholls(Professor,SchoolofPsychology),Dr NicoleThomas,DrTobyLoetscher

(Postdoctoral researchers):

The influenceof pictorialcueson bisection judgments.

Patientswith rightparietalcortexdamageshowa biastoward theright,neglecting part oftheleft side ofeitherobjectsorspace. Thesebiasescanoccur in both near and far space,or alternatively can beisolatedtoeither near or far space.Similarbiasesareobserved among neurologicallynormal peopleinthattheyshowan attentional biastotheleftside. When examining space-based differences,ithasbeen shown thattheleftbiasshiftstoa rightsidebias infar space. Itisbelieved thattheattentionalbiasesseen in clinicalneglectandthoseseen in thegeneralpopulation arethe resultof similar neuralmechanismsand thereforetheleftbias isreferred toaspseudoneglect. This projectwill investigatewhetherattentional biasescanbealtered byusing imagesand descriptions toinduce near and fardistancecontexts.Prior worksuggeststhatimageswhichinducea

representationofeithernear or far spacemightalterattentional biasesastheywould in actual nearor farspace. Itis alsobelieved thatwritten descriptionscan beused tocreateacontextinwhich participantsareimaging anobjectasbeing in either near orfar space. Theprojectwill involve administering2experiments,whichwill each involve about20participantsdrawn fromthefirstyear pool. Bothtasks would beconductedon acomputer.

Potentialstudentsshould haveaninterestinthebrainand cognition. Some basiccomputing skills will bean advantage–though theprogramming willbedonebyus.

Howthe presence of othersaffectsourperception

Traditionallycognitivescientistsinvestigatethemechanismsof perception and action in individual subjects. Thereis someevidence,however,thatthemerepresenceofotherindividualscan change howweperceiveand attend tostimuli. Thisprojectwill investigatehowthepresenceof asecond person affectsone’sspatialjudgments. Among the questionstheprojectaimstoaddressare:Doesa person sitting totheleft bias one’sspatialjudgmentstothatside?Howdoes competing (or collaborating)with a second person affectan individual’sspatial judgment?Addressing these questionswillmakean importantcontribution inourunderstanding of howthemind interactswith theworld. Ultimately,investigating theimpact of social context upon perception and action might help to better understanddisordersof socialfunctionssuch asautism.

Theprojectwill involveadministering2or3experiments,which willeach involveabout12pairsof participantsdrawn fromthefirstyearpool. Thetaskwill berunon a computer.

Potential students should have an interest in the brain and cognition. Some basic computing skills will be an advantage – though the programming will be done by us.

Reading

Knoblich,G. and N. Sebanz (2006). "Thesocial natureof perception and action."Current Directions in Psychological Science15(3):99-104.

Sight n’ sound: How different senses are represented in space by the brain

Following damagetotherightparietal cortex,patientscan experiencesymptoms ofspatial neglect wheretheyfail toattendtostimuli located in thelefthemispace. This neglectismulti-modal andcan affectstimuliin visualand auditoryspace.Thegeneral populationalsoshowsanattentional asymmetry–butin thiscasethetoomuch attention ispaid totheleft. Thisattentional biasis thoughttoinvolvesimilar cognitiveand neuralmechanismstoclinical neglect– and for this reason,itisoften referred toaspseudoneglect. Thisprojectwill examinethelinksbetween visual and auditoryattention andtheir effecton pseudoneglect.Recentresearch by Sosaetal. (2010)suggests thatthereis aleftward biasforvision and a rightwardbias foraudition. However,theyfailedto control for a numberof differencesbetweenthetaskssuch as:(a)thedistanceatwhich thestimuli were presented,(b)thelength of thestimuli,(c)eye movements,(d)thetypeof response– to name a few.Theprojectwillinvolveadministering 2or3experiments,which willeach involveabout20 participantsdrawn fromthefirstyearpool. Thetaskwill berunon a computer.

Potentialstudentsshould haveaninterestinthebrainand cognition. Some basiccomputing skills will bean advantage–though theprogramming willbedonebyus.

Reading:

Sosa,Y.,Teder-Sälejärvi,W.A.,McCourt,M.E.(2010).Biasesofspatial attention in vision and audition. Brain &Cognition, 73(3),229-235.

Reg Nixon (Professor,Schoolof Psychology) . My primaryinterestischild and adult responsetotraumaticstressorsthatcan include(among others)physicaland sexual assault,motor vehicleaccidents,losing relatives tohomicideand combat/war-relatedtrauma.I amspecifically interested in howpsychological difficultiessuchasacutestressdisorder(ASD)and posttraumatic stressdisorder(PTSD)develop followingtrauma,and in thetreatmentofthesedisorders. Iam currentlyresearching memoryintraumatisedchildren,treatmentof posttraumaticstressin adults,intrusivememoryintraumatised adults. For 2016 I have a particular project for a Masters student in the area of paediatric burns and posttraumatic adjustment that I’m happy to discuss further.

Melanie Takarangi (Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology): My research focuses on using cognitive processes—particularly memory distortion—to help understand real world issues arising in (mainly) forensic settings. More specifically, my research interests include offender, witness and victim memory for crime-related experiences (particularly aggression and violence); distortions intraumatic memory; the impact of alcohol on memory; attitudes towards wrongful conviction; and other legal implications of false memory. I am also interested in expectancy (e.g., placebo) effects on memory, behaviour, and psychological well-being. I am happy to discuss supervision of projects that fall within the above research areas.

MarikaTiggemann(Professor, School ofPsychology)

I aminterested in supervising projectsinthebroad areaof bodyimage. Specificinterestsinclude media effects,sexualisationofchildren,adultwomen, and applicationsof ObjectificationTheory.Thereisalsothe possibilitythattherewill beaPhDScholarship or top-up available(notyetadvised)through OPAL(ObesityPrevention and Lifestyle)to lookattheeffectsofweighing and measuring children(to beco-supervisedwithDr Nicola Spurrier).

Michael Tlauka (Lecturer, School of Psychology). My research focuses on human spatial memory. I am interested in supervising projects examining people's ability to learn spatial information in a variety of contexts. Recent investigations include forgetting, virtual learning and sex differences in spatial ability.

Michael Wenzel(Associate Professor,SchoolofPsychology)

Myresearchcurrentlyfocuseson responses tovictimizationsand transgressionsininterpersonalor intergroup contexts. Specifically,Iam interested in forgiveness(and self-forgiveness)and thefunctionsithasfortherestorationof justice perceptions,human needs,relationshipsand identities.

Tim Windsor (Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology):

I am interested in projects concerned with changes in social behavior and emotion regulation that occur during adulthood and ageing. Potential projects might involve examining the different types of emotion regulation strategies that older and younger adults use, and whether use of different strategies are more or less effective for younger and older adults in managing their emotional reactivity to different stimuli. I am also interested in age differences in peoples’ attempts to regulate the emotions of social partners (extrinsic emotion regulation), and whether older and younger adults can be primed to engage in self-regulatory behaviors (e.g., avoidance of negative stimuli) using implicit means (i.e., outside of conscious awareness).

Urry,H.L , & Gross, J.J. (2010). Emotion regulation in older age. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 352-357.

Robyn Young (Assoc Prof, School of Psychology)

My research is in the area of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I am interested in outcomes of persons with ASD ( children and adults) as well as comorbidity issues. I am also interested in early detection of autism, and female profiles. I am also interested in people’s fitness to stand trial and other matters related to ASD and criminality; either perpetrators or victims.

I am engaged in a collaborative research project with Neil Brewer (Professor, School of Psychology) which provides many possible avenues for clinical projects. Broadly speaking the project is concerned with the interactions that adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have with the criminal justice system. We have recently completed a book manuscript titled The Crimes of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Myths and Mechanisms. In this we identify numerous interesting but largely unresearched issues. These primarily relate to those social-cognitive characteristics of individuals with ASD that might contribute to their becoming involved in crime (as a culprit or a victim) or to prejudicial (i.e., negative) interactions with the police and the courts. We can accommodate a couple of students working on projects in this area, particularly projects that might tackle closely related investigations of the same basic issue. Many of these projects are amenable to laboratory experimentation – so, just to illustrate (note: these are but a couple of examples from numerous possibilities), one might examine how some particular characteristics of the verbal or nonverbal presentation of individuals with ASD affect the way in which others perceive or respond to them, or how an inability to detect the intentions of others through reading their nonverbal behaviour may contribute to a problematic interaction with that person.

ProjectsSupervised byAdjunctStaff

Pleasenotethatanyresearchoffered by externalorganizationswillrequirean internaluniversitysupervisor,whererelativesupervisoryinput will needto benegotiatedon a case-by-casebasis.

Wherea1appearsasasuperscriptbythename of thesupervisor,this indicatesthatthesupervisorisexternaland an internal universitysupervisor will berequired.

Richard Clark1 (Professor, E): or 08-8410 6500). Our clinic uses quantitative EEG, ERPs and neurotherapy in the assessment and treatment of a range of brain and psychological disorders - see - including ASD, Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, OCD, AD/HD, Pain, TBI and working memory disorders. Quantitative EEG/ERPs permit imaging of brain function with high temporal resolution and the capacity to localise abnormal function to brain structures using standardised atlases (e.g. MNI). Neurotherapy includes a number of different methods, including neurofeedback therapy, transcranial direct current stimulation, LENS, Heart Rate Variability training and hemoencephalography to help normalise such brain function. It is often used synergistically with more conventional techniques such as Mindfulness and CBT in conjunction with psychoeducation and counselling. There are a number of potential projects at our clinic, including examination of extant EEG/ERP datasets to characterise particular disorders and to analyse neuropsychological profiles and QEEG/ERP data pre and post neurotherapy.

Dr Nadia Corsini1, Senior Research Officer, Behavioural Research Unit, Cancer Council SA P: 8291 4382, E: W:

Cancer Council SA is a not-for-profit organisation that conducts and funds cancer research, provides support services to people affected by cancer, delivers prevention programs, and leads advocacy activities for improving cancer outcomes. Within the Behavioural Research and Evaluation Unit we are interested in the areas of cancer survivorship (what are the unmet needs and how can we support people post treatment?), disparities in cancer risk factors (amongst people in rural areas and from culturally and linguistically diverse communities), understanding drivers of cancer risk behaviours (in particular sun protection practices), evaluation of Cancer Council SA programs in the areas of cancer support and prevention. We work closely with Professor Carlene Wilson, Cancer Council SA Chair in Cancer Prevention (Behavioural Science) and would be happy to discuss joint supervision of projects. Please email me to discuss further if you are interested.

Nicole Lovato1(Research Associate)

My research spans several areas within the field of sleep research and are primarily focused on the basic and clinical aspects of sleep, circadian rhythms, sleep disorders and treatment, as well as the relationship between sleep and daytime functioning.

One of my upcoming projects will be focused on using a novel approach to prevent the onset of depression in adolescents with good sleep. Based on our recent research (Lovato & Gradisar, 2014), it is proposed that establishing and maintaining good sleep during adolescence could prevent future depressed mood. Using a meta-analytic approach, we have reported time spent awake in bed significantly contributed to the development of depression in adolescents.