Worldwide, alcohol use is a major contributor to the burden of disease and mortality. A sizeable literature suggests that brief web-based interventions that incorporate personalised normative and/or health consequences feedback are effective at reducing alcohol intake. The relative efficacy of an intervention that also includes individualised feedback about brain health has not been examined, nor has the utility of integrating a smartphone app component.

We propose investigating the impact of a brief electronic intervention designed to provide participants with personalised feedback pertaining to alcohol intake—in the form normative and health consequences information—and cognition—in the form of an impulsivity index plus interpretation. We hypothesise that hazardous drinkers—as defined by the WHO (Babor et al., 2001; Saunders et al., 1993)—who receive personalised feedback pertaining to both alcohol consumption and cognition will reduce alcohol intake behaviour to a greater extent than those who receive personalised information about only their alcohol consumption and those who receive no feedback. Those hazardous drinkers who are provided only with personalized feedback related to alcohol consumption will reduce intake to a greater degree than those who receive no feedback. Relative to non-harmful drinkers, we predict reductions in alcohol consumption will be more evident among hazardous drinkers. A further supplementary aim will be to examine whether the addition of an app-based component results in greater reductions in alcohol intake behaviour.

This is Time 3 of this study and data collection is ongoing. Nonetheless, a total of 246 (Mage = 21.02, SD = 6.03; range 18 to 68; 72% female) participants (78.6% retention) undertook Time 2 at 62.67 (SD = 9.95) days post Time 1 commencement. Of these, 83 (Mage = 21.05, SD = 7.39; 72% female) were in the control condition, 90 (Mage = 21.08, SD = 5.41; 72% female) were in the Alc condition, and 73 were in the AlcCog (Mage = 20.92, SD = 5.03; 71% female) condition.

At Time 1, participants completed demographic questions, surveys of alcohol consumption (including a 14-day Timeline Followback procedure), measures of anxiety and depression, and cognitive tasks all online. At the completion of Time 1, participants were assigned to one of three feedback conditions using randomised block allocation with stratification based on total standard drinks consumed. This ensured participants in each of the feedback conditions were characterised by similar levels of alcohol intake. Participants in each feedback condition were designated as hazardous or non- harmful based on their (WHO) Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score (Babor et al., 2001; Saunders et al., 1993). Participants in the hazardous group had AUDIT scores ≥8, while those in the non- harmful group had scores <8. Approximately 8 weeks after commencing Time 1, all the participants received an email inviting them to follow a URL link to take part in the Time 2 assessment period. At Time 2, participants completed surveys of alcohol consumption, measures of anxiety and depression, and cognitive tasks. A subsample utilised a smartphone app designed to track alcohol consumption in real- time over 14 days. These assessments were repeated at Time 3.

Hazardous drinkers in both the Alc and AlcCog conditions reduced their alcohol intake by 31% to 50% more than those in the Control condition. Reductions were not related to whether participants completed web- plus app- based components or web-only components of the intervention. There was no change in the alcohol intake of non- harmful drinkers.

Hazardous drinkers respond well to brief electronic interventions that incorporate personalized normative and/or health consequences feedback. Further research is required to determine how best to make impulsivity- related brain- health consequences of drinking manifest and how to maximize the potential of smartphones apps. The full paper is available here: 10.1111/acer.15098

Previous studies have found that regardless of the condition, the more confident an individual is, and the faster their responses are, and the more accurate their identification is. This research aims to find out if the same effects can be found in two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) tasks where the relative and absolute levels of difference between choice alternatives is manipulated. Although there exists many models that aim to explain the relationship between confidence, response time and accuracy in decision making (e.g., Ratcliff & Starns, 2009; Voskuilen & Ratcliff, 2015, Wixted & Mickes, 2014), those models were inadequate to provide a unified account that relates confidence and RT to the accuracy of choices in recognition. Therefore we proposed a new model, the Multiple Threshold Race model (MTR) that has the potential to provide such unified account.

This research aims to find out whether manipulating the relative and absolute differences in choice pairs produced distinct response patterns in 2AFC tasks.

A total of 41 REP participants completed the study.

In this experiment participants completed several cycles of a computer-based visual recognition task. In each of the task, participants were presented with series of pairs of squares with each consisting of different coloured (orange or blue) flashing pixels. Some squares contained more orange coloured pixels while some contained more blue coloured pixels. Some pairs of squares were easy to tell the difference apart because of the larger difference in the proportions of colours; while some were harder to tell due to smaller difference; some were even impossible to tell as there was absolutely no difference between them. Participants were required to identify whether one of the squares in the pair contained higher proportion of a certain colour.

Preliminary analysis showed that increasing the absolute level of evidence in equal-evidence condition decreases RTs and increases confidence. Also, increasing the relative level of evidence in unequal-evidence condition increases accuracy, decreases RTs and increases confidence.

It is possible that the Multiple Threshold Race model may struggle in fitting this type of data, which may distinguish it from other confidence models.

We are interested in how people’s personality, emotions and behaviour may change across the days of their menstrual cycle. Previous research has not yet provided a clear answer to this question, so our study seeks to gain a clearer and more detailed understanding of these changes. We intend this research to form the foundations of a larger scientific and social movement that supports women’s understanding of their own menstrual cycle, and by extension improves their health and wellbeing.

In this phase of data collection, we were interested in understanding the effect of fertility on competitive behaviours. We hypothesised that fertility would be associated with an increase in competitiveness in naturally cycling women but not hormonal contraceptive users.

30 participants completed this study in Semester 2, 2023.

Each day participants were asked to complete a 5 minute survey. Each survey contained a select number of questions, drawn from a larger pool of psychological measures. We also asked questions about the menstrual cycle and birth control.

The results of this study will be analysed in a number of ways. For example, we are interested in identifying differences between naturally cycling women and women that use contraceptives. However, we are also interested in whether or not there are clear differences in behaviour/psychology at different times in the cycle (e.g., during the menstrual phase compared to when ovulating).

The results of this research are planned for a number of journal articles. Each article is designed to educate the scientific community about how the menstrual cycle influences individual psychology.

Attention is the ability to maintain focus on relevant stimuli without becoming distracted. The orienting systems comprises exogenous and endogenous attention. Exogenous attention is a reflexive mechanism that is automatically activated by unexpected stimuli in the environment. Whereas endogenous orienting of attention is voluntary and requires cognitive effort to withdraw from one stimulus and attend to another. Adults have developed an efficient mechanism to redirect attention, with evidence to suggest that exogenous attention develops in infancy. However, it remains unclear at what stage of development endogenous spatial orienting reaches maturation.

The present study consisted of two experiments. The first aimed to investigate at what stage endogenous orienting of attention develops in children using the Staged Attentional Network Task, which uses centrally located endogenous cues to direct attention in space. Additionally, participants were interviewed to understand how children learn and use rule-based cues to efficiently shift attention. The second experiment modified the Staged ANT to include implicit learning of the cues, to investigate if cues could be learned subconsciously to improve endogenous orienting performance.

In the first experiment twenty adults (first year psychology students recruited from the REP program), and twenty children (aged between 6-12 years) participated. One child with a hearing impairment was excluded based on outlier data. There were no adult exclusions. In the second experiment twenty adults (first year psychology students recruited from the REP program), and twenty children (aged between 6-12 years) participated. One child with a dyslexia diagnosis was excluded as data showed they were not able to understand the task. There were no adult exclusions.

Experiment 1 was completed in one 45 min sitting. Constant and demographic information were collected via Qualtrics. Participants then completed the Staged ANT attention experiment followed by the semi-structured interview. The Staged ANT was a computer-based task. Two rectangular boxes were presented on the blank screen with a fixation cross in between. An arrow then flashed up in one of the two rectangles. Participants had to indicate on a game pad if the arrow was pointing up or down as quickly as possible. The endogenous cues were coloured fixation crosses that represented a rule that the participants learnt. For example, a yellow cross meant the arrow would appear on the left-hand side. Experiment 2 was the same as the first experiment except the instructions were removed from the Staged ANT and 100% valid trials were included to implicitly "teach" participants the meaning of the endogenous cues. Instead of an interview participants answered question to gauge their learning of the cues. Response time data and percentage of correct responses were recorded. Qualitative data was analyzed using NVivo and organized into themes.

Results from the first experiment suggested that children were just as efficient at orienting their attention using endogenous cues as adults. Results of the second experiment suggested that children and adults were not able to learn the meaning of the endogenous cues implicitly to efficiently orient their attention in space.

This project aims to contribute to the understanding of endogenous orienting development in children. Results suggested that endogenous orienting of attention becomes adult-like between the ages of 6-12 years of age. This study also provides valuable qualitative insight into the experience of participants while engaging in a spatial orienting task. The findings of this research have been communicated in the form of a thesis and presented in a student conference.

The basis of communication relies on a shared understanding of word meanings. Empirical studies, for example, have demonstrated variations in the meanings of common words across languages and cultures (e.g., Wang and Bi, 2021). However, only a few studies have explicitly quantified the number of distinct concepts mapped onto a single word and the extent to which this conceptual diversity can be attributed to an individual’s language differences. The present study investigated the role of language in shaping individuals’ understanding of common word meanings. Specifically, we examined to what extent common words can be interpreted differently between native Chinese speakers and native English speakers.

The present study proposes two hypotheses. Firstly, we hypothesize that there will be variations in the conceptual agreement of common word meanings interpreted between native Chinese speakers and English speakers. Secondly, we hypothesize that language differences (i.e., native Chinese speaker versus English speaker) will account for larger conceptual variations when compared to gender differences.

A total of 293 participants, who were native speakers of either English or Chinese, were recruited for the study. Certain participants were excluded from the data analysis due to incomplete study participation or an inability to identify them as either native English or native Chinese speakers.

The cue words used in this study comprised a set of 140 common English nouns that had previously been utilized in the study conducted by De Deyne et al. (2023). Participants engaged in a 60-minute online session and were presented with 28 words. The first task involved familiarity judgment task, where participants provided familiarity ratings for each cue words. Secondly, participants conducted the judgement of associative strength task, where they were tasked with evaluating the degree of association between a set of associates and each cue word.

Our results revealed evidence for language-specific meanings was present in all cue words between native English and Chinese speakers, with strong evidence found in nearly 80% of them. We found that the number of gender-specific words was much smaller than the number of language-specific words, thus supporting our hypothesis.

The implications of our findings extend to understanding how common words used daily can carry different meanings across languages and cultures. This understanding is of significant practical relevance, as neglecting language and cultural nuances can lead to translation discrepancies and misunderstandings, especially for bilingual translators and language learners who may not be well-acquainted with the cultural nuances of a second language. The results of this study will also be communicated through a psychology Honours thesis and journal article.

Existing semantic network theories have outlined the process by which various concepts interact in our brains. Spreading Activation Theory as proposed by Collins and Loftus (1975) states that word meaning involves the activation of direct and indirect paths connecting nodes in a semantic network where the nodes represent words and the links represent semantic relations. Empirically, several studies have showed that different types of semantic knowledge such as taxonomic knowledge, thematic knowledge and featural knowledge play a distinct role across different tasks. However, further research is required to uncover the role played by these knowledge types and their relative importance. This study aimed to address this question by using word association data and annotate it with edge labels that map onto a semantic role. This graph allows us to determine the relative contributions of different types of semantic knowledge in a forced-choice triad similarity judgment task.

This research aimed to investigate how manipulating the instruction of the similarity judgment task to prioritize certain types of semantic knowledge would affect one’s similarity judgment choices. We hypothesized that judgment choices would be modulated by the instructions given. It also aimed to explore how other factors, such as the concreteness and semantic distance of the stimuli, affect the similarity judgments made by participants.

337 participants participated in the study. Of those, 256 remained for analysis after exclusion criteria were applied.

The participants were allocated to three conditions based on knowledge type (taxonomic, thematic, and general relatedness) and were given instructions accordingly. They were presented with three words on the screen, one target and two alternative choices. The task was to choose which of the two words related more strongly to the target word. The task took approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Correlation analysis showed that taxonomic relation was the strongest semantic relation across all instruction conditions. A follow-up analysis showed that the relative contribution of semantic roles depends on the concreteness of the stimuli. On the other hand, a significant effect was not observed between instruction manipulation and the relative use of semantic knowledge. Moreover, the relative contribution of different semantic roles did not differ across items that were semantically close or semantically distant.

The current study allowed us to evaluate existing semantic network theories and contribute to the body of research on the relative importance of different types of semantic relations in similarity judgment. In addition, due to its exploratory nature, it identifies some interesting areas for future research in this field.

Our autobiographical memory for personally experienced events (Conway & Pleydell, 2000; Williams et al., 2007) is essential to a sense of self and identity, for generating and maintaining emotions, goals, and personal meanings (Conway & Rubin, 2019), and for engaging in everyday tasks like problem solving (Jing, Madore & Schacter, 2016) and for conducting conversations with others (Alea & Bluck, 2007). There are early indications that our ability to flexibly retrieve different types of memories, our autobiographical memory flexibility, may be important in the onset and maintenance of depression (Hitchcock et al., 2019). Changes in autobiographical memory flexibility may lead to depression by first affecting our ability to solve problems, to reappraise our experiences, to connect with others, and to think constructively about ourselves. The present study aims to investigate this proposed relationship by following a cohort of participants over three time points, six months apart (for a total of one year).

Our primary hypothesis is that problem solving skills and cognitive reappraisal skills will each partially mediate the effect of autobiographical memory flexibility on depressive symptoms. Our secondary hypothesis is that positive and negative self-beliefs will partially mediate the effect of autobiographical memory flexibility on depressive symptoms.

431 REP participants signed up to the study, and 315 REP participants completed the first time point of the study.

Online survey

The hypothesised indirect effects will be assessed using mediation models (specifically latent change score models), whereby autobiographical memory flexibility at T1 indirectly predicts depression at T3, via cognitive reappraisal skills and problem solving at T2. Both simple and parallel mediation models will be assessed. A separate model will be completed with self-beliefs as the mediator to test the secondary hypothesis.

The current study is ongoing. The findings of our study will contribute to our understanding of the important factors in mental well-being in young adults and may open up new avenues for early intervention. The results of this study will be communicated in the form of a PhD thesis and in a paper submitted to an academic journal.

Spending time outside in nature is thought to be important for mental health and neurodevelopment. The mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of nature on cognitive functions, however, remains unclear. We wanted to know how taking a 15-minute break in a selected area on campus might affect attention performance on a task. We also wanted to know whether individual differences, such as feelings of connectedness to nature and age, might play a role in the effect of nature on attention.

Does environmental preference moderate reaction times in the alerting, exogenous, and executive components of the Staged ANT task? Is perceived restoration greatest for those in the more preferred locations? Is connectedness to nature associated with changes in reaction times in the alerting, exogenous, and executive components of the Staged ANT task? Does a greater connectedness to nature strengthen the association between preference location and perceived restoration?

54 participants completed the study. One participant was excluded based on performance in the attention tasks. 53 had their data analysed.

Participants rate pictures of nine locations around the university campus in order of preference. After filling out surveys regarding their sleepiness and mood, they complete a computerized attention task. Based on their earlier preference responses, participants are then randomized into one of three conditions: high preference, medium preference, or low preference. Participants are then taken to the corresponding location to have a 15 minute outdoor break. Once complete, participants complete the computerized task once more, and re-fill surveys concerning sleepiness and mood, as well as additional surveys concerning perceived restoration and connectedness to nature.

We analysed the within-subjects change in response times (for alerting, exogenous orienting, and executive attention components separately) after the outdoor break, as well as between-group differences in environmental preference. Unexpectedly, we found no evidence of an exogenous effect (i.e., participants should respond faster when the target location is correctly exogenously cued, compared to when the target location is incorrectly cued) and we found no effect of preference location on attention control performance, compared to baseline. We also analysed the relationship between connectedness to nature scores and response times. We found that participants felt restored after the nature break irrespective of preference location. More specifically, however, for people with a strong connection to nature, preference location did matter as they were more restored when they were in a more preferred location, compared to a less preferred location. We also found attention performance on the computerized task was not moderated by one’s connectedness to nature.

This study adds new insight to a field of research that seeks to understand how nature influences our cognitive functioning. Where people spend time in nature and their connectedness to nature are both important factors for the perception of feeling restored after a nature break but are not important for actual restoration of attention control. This evidence may be used to guide greenspace and environmental preservation policy. These findings will be addressed in an honours level thesis.

Spending time outside in nature is thought to be important for mental health and neurodevelopment. The mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of nature on cognitive functions, however, remains unclear. We wanted to know how taking a 15-minute break in a selected area on campus might affect attention performance on a task. We also wanted to know whether individual differences, such as feelings of connectedness to nature and age, might play a role in the effect of nature on attention.

Does environmental preference moderate reaction times in the alerting, endogenous, and executive components of the Staged ANT task? Is perceived restoration greatest for those in the more preferred locations? Is connectedness to nature associated with changes in reaction times in the alerting, endogenous, and executive components of the Staged ANT task? Does a greater connectedness to nature strengthen the association between preference location and perceived restoration?

54 participants completed the study. One participant was excluded based on performance in the attention tasks. 53 had their data analysed.

Participants rate pictures of nine locations around the university campus in order of preference. After filling out surveys regarding their sleepiness and mood, they complete a computerized attention task. Based on their earlier preference responses, participants are then randomized into one of three conditions: high preference, medium preference, or low preference. Participants are then taken to the corresponding location to have a 15 minute outdoor break. Once complete, participants complete the computerized task once more, and re-fill surveys concerning sleepiness and mood, as well as additional surveys concerning perceived restoration and connectedness to nature.

We analysed the within-subjects change in response times (for alerting, endogenous orienting, and executive attention components separately) after the outdoor break, as well as between-group differences in environmental preference. As expected, we found an endogenous effect (i.e., participants responded faster when the target location is correctly endogenously cued, compared to when it is incorrectly cued). Unexpectedly, we found no effect of preference location on attention control performance, compared to baseline. We also analysed the relationship between connectedness to nature scores and response times. We found that participants felt restored after the nature break irrespective of preference location. More specifically, however, for people with a strong connection to nature, preference location did matter as they were more restored when they were in a more preferred location, compared to a less preferred location. We also found attention performance on the computerized task was not moderated by one’s connectedness to nature.

This study adds new insight to a field of research that seeks to understand how nature influences our cognitive functioning. Where people spend time in nature and their connectedness to nature are both important factors for the perception of feeling restored after a nature break but are not important for actual restoration of attention control. This evidence may be used to guide greenspace and environmental preservation policy. These findings will be addressed in an honours level thesis.

In daily life we tend to be constantly doing things – reading, concentrating, analyzing, problem solving, and so on. Most experiments in cognitive science involve doing things to participants (i.e., perturbing them in some way) or having participants do things themselves. There is much less work on what happens in the absence of doing/perturbation. In daily life, and in cognitive and contemplative science, it is generally understood that doing nothing is unpleasant and difficult.

In this study we are seeking to find out what happens in mind (i.e., subjective experience) and body (specifically, heart signal – ECG) when people engage in a formal practice of doing nothing.

We had a total of 330 participants. There were seven exclusions, which left 323. Of these, 297 were REP participants.

Each participant was randomized to one of three "Quiet Time" exercises: Do Nothing Practice, Focused Attention Practice, or Audiobook. The Do Nothing and Focused Attention practices were closely based on established forms of meditation. The Audiobook was an excerpt from a Bill Bryson book. Towards the beginning of the testing session participants were left alone for 5 minutes while we recorded their baseline ECG. Later in the session participants were left alone again to do the relevant 15 minute Quiet Time exercise. Instructions for the exercise were provided by audio recording played on laptop speakers. At the end of the exercise participants completed an online questionnaire asking about various dimensions of their experience. We conducted two studies. In Study 1 instructions for the Do Nothing and Focused Attention practices were spread throughout the Quiet Time exercise, with seven short blocks of silence interspersed. In Study 2 instructions for those practices were provided upfront and were followed by one long silence. All participants in first semester did Study 1. Some participants in second semester did Study 1 and others did Study 2.

In both studies, Do Nothing Practice participants typically reported that the experience was highly positive and pleasant, that there was a high degree of calm, relaxation, and rest, that there was little discomfort, tension, anxiety, worry, restlessness, or boredom, and that the session was easy. The primary self-report measures in the study were the "Calm Composite" (average of self-reported calm, relaxation, ease, and rest) and Difficulty/Easiness, and on both these measures there were no significant differences across the three groups (Do Nothing Practice, Focused Attention Practice, and Audiobook). Another primary measure was heart rate variability (HRV). In Study 2 we found that, for participants with low baseline HRV, HRV was significantly higher in the Do Nothing Practice than in the Focused Attention Practice and the Audiobook.

Our findings indicate that engaging in a formal practice of doing nothing is calming, pleasant, and easy. This contrasts with the common understanding that doing nothing is unpleasant and difficult. HRV is an indicator of parasympathetic nervous system activation, which is associated with increased relaxation or reduced arousal. The HRV finding in Study 2 indicates that Do Nothing Practice provides a greater boost to parasympathetic activation than the Focused Attention Practice and Audiobook, for participants with low baseline HRV (who may be the participants most in need of such a boost). Findings from the studies will be included in domestic and international conference presentations and in one or more articles published in high quality journal/s.

The task we have our participants complete intends to tap into the cognitive function of mental navigation which seems to be negatively impacted by depression. Our study looks to investigate whether we can observe this effect with our task using trial types that vary by their emotional valence: positive, negative, and neutral trials. Depressed individuals should perform relatively better on negative trials than positive trials compared to less depressed individuals. We also seek to establish convergent validity of our task with a related task.

Research Question: Do depressive symptoms affect insight of emotionally-valanced information? Hypotheses: 1. Fluency and flexibility subscores of the Alternative Uses Task are expected to positively correlate with performance on our Emotionally-valanced Remote Associates (ERA) task. 2. Depression scores are expected to be positively correlated with performance on the ERA task for negatively-valanced trials. 3. Depression scores are expected to be negatively correlated with performance on the ERA task for positively-valanced trials.

335 participants completed the study. Age exclusion, only 18 years+ allowed. As this is a REP1 study only those in the relevant first year psychology courses are eligible. An identical REP2 version was simultaneously run as well.

Participants receive a qualtrics link to complete a survey that takes approximately 75 minutes. Firstly, participants provide some basic demographic information then they are given instructions and 2 practice tests for our Emotionally-valanced Remote Associates (ERA) task. After this they are required to complete all 120 trials of this task. Following the ERA task participants then complete the Alternative Uses Task (our convergent validity measure) for which they are given instructions - this takes about 5 minutes. Finally, participants complete a depression questionnaire, the BDI-II.

1. Multiple regression analysis to assess convergent validity (we expect a positive correlation between fluency and flexibility subscores on the Alternative Uses Task with performance on our ERA task). 2. Linear mixed effects model to assess whether depression scores influence performance on the ERA task as a function of the emotional valence of trials (we expect higher depression scores to be associated with relatively better performance on the negative trials versus positive trials, and vice versa).

Implications: In respect to theory and research, the current study has the potential to establish good preliminary evidence for a behavioural task in indexing mental navigation. The significance of this is perhaps best understood in the context of recent research by Aru and colleagues (2023) who posit a contemporary framework of mental navigation and insight with testable hypotheses of underlying neural activity. If our task is capable of eliciting insight then it offers future research the opportunity to examine its underlying neural activity using imaging techniques. A more objective marker of insight is critical in order to draw strong conclusions about genuine psychological change observed in research. In a clinical context, our research could help inform clinicians in two regards. Firstly, assuming we observe significant effects, it may be of utility to have clients complete the task at different time points in treatment to track progress. Performance can be compared to clinical norms and used to track improvements in emotionally-valanced insight over time, as a proxy for mental health function in conditions like depression. Secondly, this could potentially be used as an assessment tool to develop a more in-depth formulation of a patient’s presentation. An argument could be made that those who score poorly on the ERA task could respond better to mindfulness-based treatments as one of the hypothesised mechanisms of change in this therapy involves enhancing mental navigation through the cultivation of trait mindfulness. To note, these implications would apply assuming further research has been conducted on clinical populations to establish norms and more evidence has been generated to validate the task – the current research provides preliminary evidence and as such clinical implications are limited. Planned Communication of Results: Part of a PhD project and planned to be published in a journal.

The task we have our participants complete intends to tap into the cognitive function of mental navigation which seems to be negatively impacted by depression. Our study looks to investigate whether we can observe this effect with our task using trial types that vary by their emotional valence: positive, negative, and neutral trials. Depressed individuals should perform relatively better on negative trials than positive trials compared to less depressed individuals. We also seek to establish convergent validity of our task with a related task.

Research Question: Do depressive symptoms affect insight of emotionally-valanced information? Hypotheses: 1. Fluency and flexibility subscores of the Alternative Uses Task are expected to positively correlate with performance on our Emotionally-valanced Remote Associates (ERA) task. 2. Depression scores are expected to be positively correlated with performance on the ERA task for negatively-valanced trials. 3. Depression scores are expected to be negatively correlated with performance on the ERA task for positively-valanced trials.

162 participants completed the study. Age exclusion, only 18 years+ allowed. As this is a REP2 study only those in the relevant second year psychology courses are eligible. An identical REP1 version was simultaneously run as well.

Participants receive a qualtrics link to complete a survey that takes approximately 75 minutes. Firstly, participants provide some basic demographic information then they are given instructions and 2 practice tests for our Emotionally-valanced Remote Associates (ERA) task. After this they are required to complete all 120 trials of this task. Following the ERA task participants then complete the Alternative Uses Task (our convergent validity measure) for which they are given instructions - this takes about 5 minutes. Finally, participants complete a depression questionnaire, the BDI-II.

1. Multiple regression analysis to assess convergent validity (we expect a positive correlation between fluency and flexibility subscores on the Alternative Uses Task with performance on our ERA task). 2. Linear mixed effects model to assess whether depression scores influence performance on the ERA task as a function of the emotional valence of trials (we expect higher depression scores to be associated with relatively better performance on the negative trials versus positive trials, and vice versa).

Implications: In respect to theory and research, the current study has the potential to establish good preliminary evidence for a behavioural task in indexing mental navigation. The significance of this is perhaps best understood in the context of recent research by Aru and colleagues (2023) who posit a contemporary framework of mental navigation and insight with testable hypotheses of underlying neural activity. If our task is capable of eliciting insight then it offers future research the opportunity to examine its underlying neural activity using imaging techniques. A more objective marker of insight is critical in order to draw strong conclusions about genuine psychological change observed in research. In a clinical context, our research could help inform clinicians in two regards. Firstly, assuming we observe significant effects, it may be of utility to have clients complete the task at different time points in treatment to track progress. Performance can be compared to clinical norms and used to track improvements in emotionally-valanced insight over time, as a proxy for mental health function in conditions like depression. Secondly, this could potentially be used as an assessment tool to develop a more in-depth formulation of a patient’s presentation. An argument could be made that those who score poorly on the ERA task could respond better to mindfulness-based treatments as one of the hypothesised mechanisms of change in this therapy involves enhancing mental navigation through the cultivation of trait mindfulness. To note, these implications would apply assuming further research has been conducted on clinical populations to establish norms and more evidence has been generated to validate the task – the current research provides preliminary evidence and as such clinical implications are limited. Planned Communication of Results: Part of a PhD project and planned to be published in a journal.

Please see this link for details: https://knowlabunimelb.github.io/SCHEDULING/

Please see this link for details: https://knowlabunimelb.github.io/SCHEDULING/

Please see this link for details: https://knowlabunimelb.github.io/SCHEDULING/

Please see this link for details: https://knowlabunimelb.github.io/SCHEDULING/

Please see this link for details: https://knowlabunimelb.github.io/SCHEDULING/

Please see this link for details: https://knowlabunimelb.github.io/SCHEDULING/

The neural mechanisms underlying voluntary (i.e., free) decisions and sense of agency, and the relationship between them have been extensively researched through one-off voluntary decision tasks, whereby participants freely make single, abstract choices between two options (e.g. Bode et al., 2011; Soon et al., 2008). However, in real life, we often make voluntary decisions in dynamic decision environments that evolve over time. In order words, changes within our external environment may require us to re-evaluate initial decisions, which may lead to a change of mind (Brass & Haggard, 2008; Löffler et al., 2020, Rens et al., 2018). This project aims to better understand the neural mechanisms of voluntary decisions and changes of mind, along with the relationship between voluntary decisions, changes of mind, and SoA through two experiments.

1. What are the neural representations of voluntary decisions in comparison to forced decisions? Additionally, how do these neural representations change from when an initial voluntary decision changes to a forced decision, and conversely, when an initial forced decision changes to a voluntary decision? 2. Can we detect differences in neural patterns between voluntary decisions and forced (i.e., stimulus-driven) decisions? 3. Can we detect differences in neural patterns between high SoA decisions and low SoA decisions?

41 participants completed the study. Inclusion criteria: between ages 18-65; no history of psychiatric or neurological disorders; correct-to-normal vision

Methods: (1) Non-invasive scalp electroencephalography (EEG) recordings of brain activity (2) Behavioural data (response times and choices) from computer-based experiments requiring participants to make decisions between options, and subsequent metacognitive judgments (e.g., sense of agency, experienced freedom, desire to switch options). Participants will complete computer-based experiments in a well-controlled laboratory setting designed for EEG acquisition. During the experiment, participants will be presented with stimuli on the screen and will make keypresses on a response device (e.g., keyboard) to register their decisions or choices. EEG will be simultaneously recorded.

Behavioural data (response times and choices) will be fit to various models to best account for how voluntary decisions are made. EEG data will be pre-processed and analysed using multivariate pattern analyses and regression modelling.

If neural processes underlying voluntary change-of-mind decisions are indeed distinct from single (one-off) voluntary decisions, we expect to be able to decode differences between patterns of neural activity between the two types of decisions. For example, the trained machine learning classifier used in the multivariate pattern analysis should be able to decode between the same free initial/single decisions and change-of-mind decisions. The results of this study will be presented at conferences such as the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society (ACNS) conference and the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC) conference, and will be published in a journal once the manuscript is ready.

Belief in free will is being challenged. Most research has focused on the downsides of undermining free will belief. The current study looks at a potential benefit: self-forgiveness.

Participants exposed to arguments for determinism will be more self-forgiving than those exposed to arguments for free will

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In-lab experiment. Part 1: Reflection on Transgression. All participants regardless of condition were asked to reflect on and write about an incident when they regret behaving in a way that hurt someone else Part 2 – Determinism/FWB Manipulation Participants read arguments for determinism (against free will) or for free will (status quo). Part 3 – Self-forgiveness/shame Measure Self-report items measuring how shameful vs self-forgiving they felt regarding the event they reflected on in part 1.

As hypothesized, participants in the determinism condition were more self-forgiving (less shameful) than those in the free will condition, t(258) = 2.90, p = .004, Cohen’s d = .36 (small to moderate effect).

First demonstration of wellbeing benefits from undermining free will belief. Balances the literature that has focused on the downsides of undermining free will belief. Further evidence toward the argument that it can be good for people in at least some ways in at least some contexts to lower or abandon their free will belief. Results were presented at SASP 2023 and will be submitted to journals and wider media.

Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental disorder worldwide. People with anxiety disorders have a heightened sense of threat and danger that is excessive and not in proportion to the situation of concern. Exposure therapy is an effective psychological treatment for anxiety disorders. Exposure means "facing your fears", or systematically approaching a feared (but actually safe) situation to overcome excessive fear. Decades or research and clinical experience demonstrates that exposure therapy improves all types of anxiety disorder. Despite this, researchers are not sure how and why it works. The leading view currently is that exposure works by providing experiences where clients can learn that their fears don't come true. The technical term for when a fear doesn't come true is "threat prediction-error". Discrepancy between anxious predictions and actual outcome vary from being a lot worse than expected, as-expected, to a lot better than expected. Current theory posits that larger threat prediction error during an exposure will lead to more safety learning. Exposure therapists should thus try to create conditions where people are surprised by the outcome and see that their fears don’t come true to the greatest extent possible. Evidence supporting this theory of exposure therapy comes from basic fear learning research with animals and humans and using controlled experimental procedures in laboratory settings. This fear learning research often involves participants viewing trials of abstract geometric shapes on a computer screen. Some shapes pair with an electric shock or loud noise and some don't. Researchers measure fear to see how it changes through different stimuli combinations. This research shows that fear in this kind of procedure reduces after threat prediction errors. Some researchers assume that the findings from this kind of research will translate to the "real-world" context of therapy in the clinic. However, findings may not transfer to the more complex and "messy" settings that characterise everyday life. We need more research to determine whether the threat prediction error model of exposure translates to real-world contexts outside of the laboratory. It is important to know the therapeutic mechanisms of our treatments. If we don't know the true treatment mechanisms, we may be subject clients to unnecessary procedures. Instead, we could drop unneeded procedures to focus on the real mechanisms of change. This study aims to address these gaps by exploring whether threat prediction error is associated with anxiety reduction through a procedure that resembles exposure therapy in the clinic. This procedure involves give six short speeches to a researcher over two days and rating anxiety, threat perception, and perception of threat outcome for each speech.

Does overall threat prediction error, threat expectancy change, and learning rate prediction anxiety reduction during exposure? We thought that greater overall threat prediction error would be associated with more anxiety reduction. For the same person, does threat prediction error and expectancy change from one exposure predict anxiety at the next exposure? We thought that it would. Does prediction error relate to how surprising the exposure is? We thought exposures would be more surprising if there was greater prediction error.

One hundred and thirty people met with the researcher between May 2021 and October 2022, with 129 providing informed consent. Of these 129 participants, 2 withdrew before attempting any speeches and 2 were excluded post-hoc due to insufficient English proficiency that became evident during testing. The remaining 125 participants collectively gave 678 speeches out of a possible 750 (9.6% missing). A further 11 observations were re-coded as missing due to testing errors (0.99% of all scheduled observations). The final analysed dataset comprised of 667 observations (11% missing) provided by 125 participants.

We adapted the procedure from other research exploring speech performance anxiety (Chen et al., 2018; Harvey et al., 2000; Orr & Moscovitch, 2010). Participants were asked to complete two online testing sessions (one hour duration) separated by seven days and conducted by video teleconference using Zoom (https://zoom.us/). All measures were administered via Qualtrics (https://www.qualtrics.com/au/). Participants attended sessions alone and were asked to deliver six three-minute speeches on a pre-selected topic (such as “Should cigarettes be banned?”) to a single researcher (first author) over the two testing sessions (three speeches per session). Participants were given one minute to prepare what to say before starting each speech. At the start of each session, participants selected three topics rated between five and seven in familiarity on an 11-point Likert scale (0 = “Not at all familiar” to 10 = “Extremely familiar”) from a randomised list of 47 topics. The speech topics were thus constrained to be approximately moderately familiar to the participant, enough to speak for three minutes on the topic but not enough to be very “easy”. Constraining speech familiarity provides some control for task difficulty while reducing practice effects that would occur in repeating speeches on the same topic (Chen et al., 2018; Orr & Moscovitch, 2010). Selecting topics one session at a time also minimises and controls for preparation time. Participants completed questionnaires measureing threat predictions, outcomes, anxiety, and surprise intensity for each speech. Participants completed questionnaire measuring social anxiety symptom severity, mood, and stress at the beginning of each testing session.

We examined between and within person relationships between learning indicators and outcomes over exposure using multilevel modelling. Average expectancy change and prediction error learning rate, but not average prediction error per se, was associated with more anxiety reduction across the exposure. Within person, anxiety was lower after exposures that triggered more expectancy change. Threat prediction error wasn’t linearly associated with with anxiety at the next exposure. Higher threat prediction error during an exposure was associated with greater subjective surprise for that exposure.

We concluded that threat prediction error is necessary but not sufficient for effective exposure. Success depends on how much the patient converts exposure-related prediction errors into threat expectancy change. This study suggests exposure-based CBT outcomes for anxiety may be enhanced by emphasising threat expectancy change rather than threat prediction error per se. Therefore, therapists should design exposures to generate maximal threat prediction error but should monitor changes to threat expectancy over repeated exposures to assess progress, rather than only tracking expectancy violations. Therapists should remain aware that large patient reported threat prediction errors may not translate to changes in threat beliefs and that change in threat beliefs seems important for therapeutic outcome. Future research should focus on ways to enhance the prediction-error learning rate from exposures. These results were presented at the AACBT National Conference in 2023 and has been submitted to a journal for publication. We plan to present the results at other relevant scientific conferences over the next year.

Anxiety disorders are prevalent conditions in people diagnosed with cancer, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and eating disorders (EDs; Keski-Rahkonen & Mustelin, 2016; Stark, Kiely, Smith, Velikova, House, Selby, 2002; Thomas et al., 2006). Additionally, depression and anxiety are frequently comorbid with each other and this comorbidity is associated with greater distress, (Andrews et al., 2002), increased service utilisation (Burgess et al., 2009) and can also impact medical treatment decisions (Seo and Shin, 2019). Such findings demonstrate the complex comorbidity evident within medically unwell, and clinical populations, and highlight the importance of addressing this comorbidity. We are interested in developing a new psychological model of anxiety in those with cancer, MS or an ED and comparing this with medically well populations. We aim to do this by examining a number of transdiagnostic factors which are thought to contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety (e.g., death anxiety, perfectionism, self-esteem), in individuals in general, as well as those with a lived experience of Cancer, MS or an ED. We are interested in comparing these factors in those with and without an illness.

1. To examine death anxiety, meaning, religiosity, body image, self esteem, depression and anxiety across different populations groups (i.e., those with cancer, MS, EDs and the general community). 2. To examine predicted mediators and moderators of anxiety (e.g., depression, death anxiety, physical symptoms severity, age, weight stigma, perfectionism, self-esteem, meaning, religiosity) in a path analysis to see how these different transdiagnostic factors are related to each other in the different population groups. 3. To examine the validity of the The Templer Death Anxiety Scale - Modified (TDAS-M) and the Death Attitudes Profile - Revised (DAP-R) in oncology, MS and ED populations.

A total of N = 373 REP participants completing this study. No participant exclusions were applied. We thank you for your assistance with this research!

This study includes completing a survey online via Qualtrics. Measures includes collecting demographic information, along with measures examining: depression, anxiety, ED symptoms, death anxiety, thoughts of death, health anxiety, self-esteem, perfectionism, meaning, internalised weight-stigma, values, self-focused attention and attitudes towards fatness. It also includes measures of physical functioning and disability.

Recruitment of the illness populations is ongoing. As such, there are no analyses or results complete as yet. First, a validation study will be completed of the TDAS-M and DAP-R, to ensure these measures are valid in both the community and medically unwell populations. Second, a new psychological model of anxiety will be examined using path analysis.

The implications of the current research will be; a) to inform future treatments of anxiety in those with an illness, b) to assist in the prevention of anxiety in those with an illness, c) to enable medical, nursing and allied health professionals to provide more targeted supports to those with cancer, MS and EDs, and d) to allow future research a greater exploration of death anxiety in those with an illness.