Skye McDonald, PhD Macquarie, MSc Melb.Uni, BSc(Hons) Monash,
Jacqueline Rushby, BSC (Hons), PhD, Wollongong
Sharon Flanagan, MPsychol Sydney Uni
Maurice Finn, M Clin Psychol (UNSW) BA (Hons) Uni Adelaide (PhD Student)
Michelle Kelly, BPsych (Hons) Uni Newcastle (PhD Student)
Danielle Mathersul, BSc (Hons) USyd (PhD Student)
Hannah Rosenberg, BPsychol (Hons) UNSW (PhD Student)
Emily Trimmer, BPsychol (Hons) ANU, MPsychol (Clinical) UWS (PhD Student)

Olivier Piguet, PhD Sydney Uni, MSc (Clin Neuropsych) Melb Uni (based at NeuRA)
Antoinette ReDeblado Hodge, MNeuropsych Macquarie (based at Westmead Hospital)
Sara Lucas, MNeuropsych Macquarie (based at Westmead Hospital)
Corrine Roberts, MSc Melb Uni (Clinical Neuropsych) based at POW
Robyn Tate, PhD Macquarie MPsychol UNSW, based at Uni Sydney
Michael Perdices, PhD UNSW, MA (Clin Neuropsych) based at Royal North Shore Hospital
Leanne Togher, PhD, Uni Syd based at University Sydney
Melissa J. Green, BA Qld, MA UNE, PhD Syd (based in School Psychiatry)
Maria Kangas, PhD, UNSW, MPsychol Sydney Uni (based at Macquarie University)
Shane Darke, PhD Uni Sydney (based at National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre)
Cristina Bornhofen, PhD, MPsychol (Clin), UNSW (based at Liverpool Brain Injury Unit)

McDonald, S, Flanagan, S. & Rollins, J. (2011) “The Awareness of Social Inference Test” comprising two video tapes (Forms A and B), manual, pp1-15, Response Cards, Response Forms, Summary Scoring Sheets. Pearson Assessment, Sydney, Australia. ISBN 1 874261 02 4

Many clinical conditions including acquired brain injury, frontotemporal dementia, developmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorders, psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia lead to impairment in the ability to identify emotional expressions in others, deficits in the ability to understand the intentions and thoughts of others and problems understanding indirect language (such as sarcasm). These problems are disabling and a major target for remediation. TASIT was designed to provide a systematic assessment of these difficulties using naturalistic video vignettes employing professional actors in everyday exchanges. TASIT has three parts examining the ability to recognise basic emotions (Part 1) the ability to discern whether someone is being sincere or sarcastic (Part 2) and the ability to determine whether someone is lying or being sarcastic (Part 3). In parts 2 and 3 it is also possible to assess how well the participant can read the feelings, thoughts and intentions of the speakers.

We are interested in examining the neuropsychological, cognitive, neuroanatomical, affective and psychophysiological correlates of emotion processing in people with acquired brain damage such as from trauma, as well as developmental conditions such as those with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Click here for more details.

We are also interested in facets of memory functioning following brain impairment including autobiographical memory, prospective memory and the use of reminders to facilitate recall.

Many people with brain damage do not suffer from impairment to basic language function but can, nevertheless, have major problems communicating because they fail to understand conversational inferences, emotions of the speaker, or their actual communicative intention. We are currently conducting research that examines the neuropsychological underpinning of these difficulties. We are also conducting longitudinal research (spearheaded by Leanne Togher at Uni of Sydney) to examine how difficulties in communication evolve over time following a traumatic brain injury.

Better understanding of how emotion perception is disordered in clinical conditions provides the impetus to develop better remediation. We are currently conducting a series of trials to examine different techniques that may be affective in improving emotion perception. We are also running clinical trials to determine the effectiveness of fully manualised treatment for emotion perception disorders. In addition, a number of treatment resources and manuals have been developed and are available for ASSBI Resources www.assbi.com