Associate Professor Derek Arnold My research is primarily concerned with links between neural processing and conscious perceptual experience. Precisely what neural operations result in us 'seeing'? One of my specific research themes is time perception. Different sensory experiences can be mediated by relatively independent systems, like vision and audition. So what processes allow us to judge the relative timing of different types of event? Another line of research concerns face perception - what operations allow you to distinguish a male from a female face, or a familiar from an unfamiliar face. Another major theme relates to sensory integration. Neural analyses can be relatively independent, like those for colour and movement. Yet we have apparently unified experiences. What processes are responsible for this sensory binding?
Professor Ross Cunnington Research in my lab focuses on the brain processes crucial for planning and representing actions prior to initiation, for imitating actions, and for perceiving and understanding the actions of others.
Associate Professor Paul E. Dux Studies of attention, training, cognitive control, theory of mind and task performance using behavioural and neuroimaging techniques. With a special interest in the capacity limits of human information processing.
Dr Frankie Fong Developmental psychology research on various social learning topics, such as conformity, overimitation, digital media effect, and religious cognition.
Dr Philip Grove Binocular vision and stereopsis: I have a number of ongoing experiments looking at binocular vision and 3D perception. Some examples are listed below. The details of these projects can be worked out in consultation with the student. Multisensory perception: I am interested in how the perceptual system integrates signals from two or more sensory inputs. I have ongoing experiments exploring the relationships between vision and hearing, vision and the vestibular senses, and vision and proprioception.
Dr Matthew Gullo This NHMRC-funded research project aims to test the efficacy of different psychological interventions by utilising a new laboratory model of youth impulsivity and alcohol use. The project will provide a great opportunity for students wanting to gain experience in translational clinical research examining mechanisms of change. It will provide students with an opportunity to observe (and possibly take part in) the administration of different psychotherapeutic techniques adapted for a laboratory setting, including factors that increase and decrease their effectiveness. It will also provide experience in state-of-the-art assessment techniques commonly employed by psychologists working clinically in this field.
Dr Will Harrison I’m interested in how the brain makes sense of complex visual information so effortlessly. Much of human visual neuroscience is concerned with how we see visual objects that are easily identified by simple geometric patterns. A person crossing a street, a coffee mug, and a dog can all be identified by their borders or silhouettes. However, these “things” form only a portion of our visual world. A patch of grass, wooden floorboards, and bubble-wrap are all as easily identifiable, but not from their simple borders or silhouettes. Instead, this “stuff” is identifiable only by higher-order information that the visual system interprets as a material, or texture. In general, stuff (i.e. a visual material) consists of repeating patterns, but the same is not true for things (i.e. visual objects). My experiments aim to understanding the visual statistics that the brain exploits to compute stuff and things. My students and I find novel ways to generate stimuli that have controlled statistical properties, we measure human perception using rigorous behavioural protocols, and we develop models that capture the computations performed by the brain
Professor Catherine Haslam My research investigates the cognitive and social consequences of trauma and disease in neurological populations, and also on identity-cognition relationships in ageing.
Associate Professor Mark Horswill We developed a hazard perception training package for young drivers in conjunction with Queensland Transport - and preliminary data indicates that it has a huge beneficial effect on drivers' hazard perception response times and actually changes what people are looking at in our driving simulator. However, many unanswered questions remain, for example, how long the training effect lasts for, do people need booster training sessions, which components of the training work the best, and how to persuade drivers to take the training in the first place. Help us find out the answers to these questions and save lives!
Dr Kana Imuta My research area is in developmental psychology and, in particular, examines bilingualism and language acquisition, as well as the development of social competence in young children.
Professor Andrew Neal My research examines the factors that enhance the performance, safety and effectiveness of people at work, and the mechanisms by which people manage competing demands in complex, dynamic environments.
Emeritus Professor Roger Remington Human attention, multitasking, eye movements, the control of cognitive processing, as well as computational modelling of human performance.
Professor Matt Sanders Triple P - Positive Parenting Program.
Professor Penelope Sanderson Cognitive engineering and human factors.
Dr Nik Steffens Research projects in the broad areas of leadership, citizenship, creativity, charisma, and health and well-being.
Associate Professor Jason Tangen We have a new research program called The Forensic Reasoning Project. Our aim is to study the nature of expertise in forensic identification to improve training and the value of expert testimony. What sets an expert apart from a novice? Can training time be reduced without compromising performance? What can examiners reasonably claim when testifying in court?
Dr Eric Vanman In the UQ Social Neuroscience Lab, we use various psychophysiological measures to examine emotional and cognitive process involved in social interactions. Although informed by recent findings in neuroimaging, the research in our laboratory is typically done without people being put into a scanner. To heighten experimental realism, the laboratory has available both interactive software programs and immersive virtual reality equipment so that participants become highly involved in the experimental procedures. Some topics we will be working on include: perceptions of expressions of crying, how people respond to others who are obese, and intergroup schadenfreude.
Professor Bill von Hippel I am interested in evolutionary social cognition. Currently we are exploring a variety of topics, such as innovation, boredom, and self-deception.
Dr Courtney von Hippel My research focuses primarily on intergroup relations, feelings of stigmatisation, implicit attitudes, stereotype threat, and executive functioning. My work tends to examine social psychological theories in more applied settings (e.g., the workplace).
Dr Brendan Zietsch Evolutionary psychology - mate preferences and choices, mate value, physical attractiveness, intelligence, personality, sexual orientation, masculinity-femininity, sexual behaviour, and how these relate to sexual selection and the evolution of the human mind.
Dr Harriet Dempsey-Jones - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Psychology.
By participating in a program students will gain valuable academic and professional opportunities, develop analytical, critical thinking, and communication skills, and have an opportunity to cultivate links with industry and academic contacts.