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Cognition
The research of many members of the academic staff is informed by cognitive principles, be it in the clinical, social, or even forensic and organisational domains. After all, Cognition is about how we analyse, integrate, and interpret information, which is relevant to most aspects of human behaviour. In addition to those whose research has a cognitive foundation, though, there are academics in the school whose research focuses directly on an understanding of cognitive processes themselves. This research ranges from analyses of memory, thought, language, and decision making, with specialists in each of these areas who have a strong international reputation. They are widely published and have been very successful in attracting research funding from a number of different sources. It is probably fair to say the School of Psychology has one of the strongest groups of cognitive researchers in Australia.
People Involved
Here is a list of the people within the school who are most involved in cognitive research. Follow the links for further information including publications. Thomas BeesleyAssociative learning in humans; the role of attention in learning; cue-competition; implicit/incidental learning; computational modelling of learning processes. Chris DonkinShort-term and long-term memory; Categorization; Visual search; Choice and response times in rapid and perceptual decision-making; Quantitative and computational models of cognition. Brett HayesConcept formation and categorisation; Reasoning and decision-making; The development of memory; Eyewitness memory and suggestibility in children; Forensic interviewing with children; Information processing in children with developmental disabilities. Mike Le PelleyTopics in learning and categorization; e.g., applications of associative learning theory to clinical disorders such as schizophrenia and phobias, as well as to healthy ageing. Understanding “real-world” behaviour that implicates associative learning, such as the development of superstitions and social stereotypes. Interactions between learning and attentional processes. Skye McDonaldInvestigation of the nature of cognitive and other psychological disorders following brain injury in adulthood including acquired impairments of emotion, behaviour, language, visuospatial processing, perception, memory and learning and executive functions. Issues related to neuropsychological assessment and rehabilitation. Pragmatic language processes in normal and brain-injured adults. Communication disorders after brain injury. Ben NewellJudgement and decision making. Implicit/explicit distinction in human learning and memory. Marcus TaftWord recognition in reading and speech recognition. Individual differences in cognitive mechanisms involved in reading. Cross-language comparisons. Bilingual language processing. Representative Publications by Members of the Cognition Group
Chris Donkin
- Dodds, P., Donkin, C., Brown, S. D., Heathcote, A. & Marley, A. A. J. (2011). Stimulus specific learning: Disrupting the bow effect in absolute identification. Attention, Perception & Psychophysics, 73, 1977-1986.
- Nosofsky, R. M., Little, D. R., Donkin, C. & Fific, M. (2011). Short-Term memory scanning viewed as exemplar-based categorization. Psychological Review, 118, 280-315.
- Dodds, P., Donkin, C., Brown, S. D., & Heathcote, A. (2011). Increasing capacity: Practice effects in absolute identification. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition, 37, 477-492.
- Donkin, C., Brown, S. D., Heathcote, A., & Wagenmakers, E. J. (2011). Diffusion versus linear ballistic accumulation: Different models for response time, same conclusions about psychological mechanisms? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18, 61-69.
Brett Hayes
- Hayes, B. K., & Thompson, S. (in press). Causal relations and feature similarity in children’s inductive reasoning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
- Hayes, B. K. (2006). Knowledge, development and category learning, The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 46, 37-78.
- Hayes, B. K. & Heit, E. (2004). Why learning and development can lead to poorer recognition memory. Trends in Cognitive Science, 8, (8), 337-339.
- Hayes, B. K. & Younger, K. (2004). Category-use effects in children. Child Development, 75, 1-14.
- Hayes, B. K., Foster, K., & Gadd, N. (2003). Prior knowledge and subtyping effects in children's category learning. Cognition, 88, 177-199.
Mike Le Pelley
- Morris, R., Griffiths, O., Le Pelley, M. E., & Weickert, T. W. (in press). Attention to irrelevant cues is related to positive symptoms in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin.
- Le Pelley, M. E. (in press). Metacognitive monkeys or associative animals? Simple reinforcement learning explains “uncertainty” in nonhuman animals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.
- Le Pelley, M. E., Beesley, T., & Griffiths, O. (2011). Overt attention and predictiveness in human contingency learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 37, 220-229.
- Le Pelley, M. E., Reimers, S. J., Beesley, T., Spears, R., Murphy, R. A., & Calvini, G. (2010). Stereotype formation: Biased by association. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 139, 138-161.
- Le Pelley, M. E., Schmidt-Hansen, M., Harris, N. J., Lunter, C. M., & Morris, C. S. (2010). Disentangling the attentional deficit in schizophrenia: Pointers from schizotypy. Psychiatry Research, 176, 143-149.
- Le Pelley, M. E., Oakeshott, S. M., & McLaren, I. P. L. (2005). Blocking and unblocking in human causal learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 31, 56-70.
- Le Pelley, M. E. (2004). The role of associative history in models of associative learning: A selective review and a hybrid model. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57B, 193-243.
- Le Pelley, M. E., & McLaren, I. P. L. (2003). Learned associability and associative change in human causal learning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 56B, 68-79.
Skye McDonald
- McDonald, S. (2007) Neuropsychological and social underpinnings of communication disorders after traumatic brain injury. In Ball, M.J & Damico, J. (Eds) Clinical Aphasiology- Future Directions. Sussex, UK: Psychology Press.
- Nash, S., Henry, J.D., McDonald, S., Martin, I., Brodaty, H., & Peek-O’Leary, M. (In Press) Cognitive disinhibition and socioemotional functioning in Alzheimer’s disease Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society
- McDonald, S. (2007) The social, emotional and cultural life of the orbitofrontal cortex. Brain Impairment, 8, 41-51.
- Saunders, C., McDonald, S. & Richardson, R. (2006) Loss of emotional experience after traumatic brain injury? Findings with the startle probe procedure. Neuropsychology, 20, 224-231.
Ben Newell
- Newell, B.R., Lagnado, D.A., & Shanks, D.R. (2007). Straight Choices: The Psychology of Decision Making. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
- Newell, B.R. & Rakow, T. (in press). The role of experience in decisions from description. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
- Lagnado, D.A., Newell, B.R., Kahan, S., & Shanks, D.R. (2006). Insight and strategy in multiple cue learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135, 162-183.
- Newell, B.R. & Fernandez, D. (2006). On the binary quality of recognition and the inconsequentiality of further knowledge: Two critical tests of the recognition heuristic. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 19, 333-346.
- Newell, B.R. (2005). Re-visions of rationality? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 11-1
Marcus Taft
- Taft, M. (2004). Morphological decomposition and the reverse base frequency effect. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57A, 745-765
- Taft, M. (2006). Orthographically influenced abstract phonological representation: Evidence from non-rhotic speakers. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 35, 67-78.
- Taft, M. (2006). Processing of characters by native Chinese readers. In P. Li, L.H. Tan, E. Bates, O.J.L. Tzeng (Eds.) Handbook of East Asian Psycholinguistics (Volume 1: Chinese). Pp.237-249. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Current Grants Held by Members of the Group
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Title (Chief Investigators)
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Source
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Years
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Total funding
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Ageing, inhibition and social control – steps towards improving the lives of older adults (von Hippel & Henry)
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ARC: Discovery Grant
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2007-2009
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$256,500
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Towards a model of emotional control: Assessment of patients with focal cortical injuries (Henry & McDonald)
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ARC: Discovery Grant
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2006-2008
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$195,000
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Communication and severe brain injury (Togher, McDonald & Tate)
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NH&MRC: Project Grant
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2006-2008
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$440,000
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As-if reasoning in categorization, reasoning and decision-making (Hayes & Newell)
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ARC: Discovery Grant
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2007-2010
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$271,000
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The development of causal induction (Hayes & Heit)
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ARC: Discovery Grant
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2006-2009
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$240,000
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The relationship between lexical processing strategies and adult reading proficiency. (Taft)
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ARC: Discovery Grant
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2006-2008
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$216,000
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Testing a unitary model of judgment under uncertainty. (Newell)
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ARC: Discovery Grant
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2005-2007
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$160,000
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Testing a cooperative model of human learning. (Mitchell & Lovibond)
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ARC: Discovery Grant
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2006-2008
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$210,000
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Discrimination learning in humans: Associative and attentional mechanisms (Mitchell & Hall)
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ARC: Discovery Grant
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2005-2007
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$135,000
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PhD Students currently supervised by Members of the Group
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Name
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Supervisor
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Topic
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Fiona MacDonald
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Ben Newell
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Decision making
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Megan Heffernan
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Ben Newell
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Probabilistic category learning
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Maurice Finn
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Skye McDonald
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Treatment for mild cognitive impairment
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Ariella de Sousa
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Skye McDonald
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Neuropsychology of empathy
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Minh Nguyen Hoan
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Marcus Taft
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Processing of English as a second language
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Naomi Sweller
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Brett Hayes
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Concept and category learning
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Lauren Kearney
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Brett Hayes
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Social Cognition
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Tiina Piira
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Brett Hayes
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Developmental category learning
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Yvonna Lavis
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Chris Mitchell
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Human perceptual learning.
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Betty Chang
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Chris Mitchell
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Attention in the Implicit Association Test
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Oren Griffiths
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Chris Mitchell
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Attention in learning and recognition memory
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Chris Ruthven
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Chris Mitchell
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Automatic behaviour
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Phoebe Bailey
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Julie Henry
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Social cognition and ageing
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Anna McCarrey
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Julie Henry
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Social cognition and ageing
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Claire Thompson
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Julie Henry
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Prospective memory and dementia
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Yael Perry
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Julie Henry
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Emotion regulation and schizophrenia
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Adam Lane
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Julie Henry
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Motivational enhancement and schizophrenia
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