Professor Frances Martin

Psychological literacy for the 21st century posits both real and virtual resource options for 'applied' psychology at the interface of psychology education and graduate attributetargeted student learning outcomes. Psychological literacy encapsulates the common graduate attributes or capabilities that students should acquire while undertaking a major in psychology, as exemplfied by guidelines and lists of student learning outcomes (SLOs) delineated by many national psychology organisations. Application involves purposefully applying the basic capabilites to new problems or in new situations, usually in an experiential and active manner. This chapter briefly considers the background to the issue of "applied" psychology in undergraduate education, and then give some concrete examples of how "applied" psychology learning and teaching strategies can be implemented to support the development of psychological literacy (McGovern et al., 2010) in our students.

Scientific thinking is more than just critical thinking. Teaching the full range of ways to think like a scientist who practices high quality science is rare. A new core subject in the Bachelor of Science at the University of Newcastle was developed to allow students to explore six different ways to thinking scientifically through understanding what high-quality science is and contrasting it with poor science and non-science (pseudoscience). Our evaluation indicates that learning about how to think scientifically and be a scientist who practices high quality science is a skill that is valued by and relevant to first year undergraduate students. An evidence-based pedagogy including active learning, participatory learning, student-centred learning, constructive alignment and quality formative and summative feedback to students can support high learning outcomes.

Whether a face is categorized as male or female is influenced by the age of the face. In the present study, Event-Related Potential (ERP) measures were employed to offer insight into the neural correlates indexing the interaction between the age and sex of a face during sex categorization. Thirty-eight young adults (18 male) categorized the sex of young (18¿29¿years) and older (70¿94¿years) adult faces as ERP activity was recorded. Amplitude modulation for the P3b was observed in parietal regions. Younger female faces elicited more positive P3b amplitudes than older female faces, a difference that did not occur for male faces. Behavioral performance and P3b modulation also indicated these effects varied between male and female participants. Women responded more slowly and with less accuracy to older female faces compared to male and young female faces, a pattern of results mirrored by P3b latency. These findings indicate that later-occurring ERP components, such as the P3b, signal the intersection of multiple social categories during face processing suggesting that the evaluation of ingroup/outgroup membership related to age is enhanced for young women, but not for young men.

Inhibitory processing is an aspect of cognitive control susceptible to cognitive decline due to aging. Engaging in habitual exercise could attenuate these declines in middle age. In the present study, the event-related potential (ERP) activity of 40 middle age adults (21 females) and 42 young adults (24 females) was recorded with electroencephalography (EEG) as participants completed two cognitive tasks that elicit inhibitory processing, one indexing interference control (i.e., the Flanker Task), and the other response inhibition (i.e., the Stop-Signal task). Congruent arrays elicited significantly earlier peaks in P3b activity compared to incongruent arrays in the Flanker task for non-exercisers and young habitual exercisers. For middle age habitual exercisers, this difference was of much smaller magnitude, and non-significant. This finding suggests that the timing of interference control, as indexed by P3b latency, was similar in the congruent and congruent conditions for middle age adults who engaged in regular exercise. On the Stop-Signal task, the P3b activity of habitual exercisers was larger and peaked earlier than that of non-exercisers, indicating that ERP activity signalling response inhibition was enhanced in young and middle age adult regular exercisers. Sex differences were also observed in peak P3b activity on the Flanker task, results which suggest the relationship between regular exercise and interference control differs between men and women. The findings of this study suggest that it is important to consider individual differences, for example sex, when examining the effectiveness of exercise interventions targeting cognitive decline.

Rationale: Cannabis use impairs visual attention; however, it is unclear whether cannabis use also impairs low level visual processing or whether low level visual deficits can be related to lower dopaminergic functioning found in cannabis users. Objectives: To investigate whether spatiotemporal contrast sensitivity and motion discrimination under normal and low luminance conditions differ in cannabis users and non-users. Methods: Control (n = 20) and cannabis (n = 21) participants completed a visual acuity test, a saliva test and self-report measures. Spatial and temporal contrast thresholds, motion coherence thresholds for translational and radial motion and the spontaneous eye blink rate were then collected. Results: Cannabis users showed decreased spatial contrast sensitivity under low luminance conditions and increased motion coherence thresholds under all luminance levels tested compared to non-users. No differences in temporal contrast sensitivity were found between the groups. Frequency of cannabis use correlated significantly and negatively with contrast sensitivity, both spatial and temporal, in the cannabis group and higher motion coherence thresholds for radial motion were also associated with more frequent cannabis use in this group. The eye blink rate was significantly lower in cannabis users compared to non-users. Conclusions: The present study shows that cannabis use is associated with deficits in low level visual processing. Such deficits are suggested to relate to lower dopamine, in a similar manner as in clinical populations. The implications for driving safety under reduced visibility (e.g. night) in abstaining cannabis users are discussed.

Attention to motion stimuli and correct motion perception are vital for road safety. Although cannabis use has been associated with increased road crash risks, there is limited research on attentional processing of moving stimuli in cannabis users. This study investigated the neural correlates of the three-stimulus oddball task in cannabis users (n¿=¿18) and non-users (n¿=¿23) in response to moving stimuli. Stimulus contrast was under 16% against a low luminance background (M luminance¿<¿16¿cd/m2). The two groups did not differ in accuracy or in N2 peak amplitude; however, N2 latency was longer for target and standard stimuli in the cannabis group than in the control group. The cannabis group also showed a significantly reduced P3b amplitude in response to target stimuli. The AUDIT score was added as a random factor to the anova to rule out the effects of uneven alcohol consumption in the two groups. A significant group effect was found for N2 latency in response to target and standard stimuli and a significant interaction between the group, and the AUDIT score was found for the P3b peak amplitude for the distractor and standard stimuli, but not for the target stimuli. The results of this study suggest that cannabis use relates to reduced neural activity underlying attention to motion stimuli. Implications for regular early-onset cannabis use road safety are discussed.

Many steganographic systems embed hidden messages inside the least significant bit layers of colour natural images. The presence of these messages can be difficult to detect by using statistical steganalysis. However, visual steganalysis by humans may be more successful in natural image discrimination. This study examined whether humans could detect least-significant bit steganography in 15 color natural images from the VisTex database using a controlled same/different task (N = 58) and a yes/no task (N = 61). While d' > 1 was observed for color layers 4¿8, layers 1¿3 had d' < 1 in both experiments. Thus, layers 1¿3 appear to be highly resistant to visual steganalysis. © 2008, ACM. All rights reserved.

Impulsive-aggression was investigated in a female university sample (N = 686). Four groups (impulsive-aggressive, n = 23; aggressive, n = 24; impulsive, n = 33; and control, n = 119) were selected on the basis of impulsivity scores and aggression scores. In comparison to other groups, the impulsive-aggressive women were more physically aggressive and had a greater tendency to fight or argue. They were also more likely to report a drug problem, were more sexually active, and were more likely to have faced charges as a result of antisocial activity. Due to prominent antisocial features of the impulsive-aggressive women's profile, subsequent investigation of psychopathic traits was conducted. Women from the impulsive-aggressive (n = 11), aggressive (n = 9), impulsive (n = 7), and control (n = 11) groups were individually interviewed and rated using the P-Scan (Hare & Herve, 1999). The impulsive-aggressive group (M = 6.33, SD = 3.48) scored significantly higher than all other groups (Ms < 1.70, SDs < 1.90) on total P-Scan psychopathy ratings and on the three facets of the P-Scan. Current findings suggest the use of self-report measures of impulsivity and aggressiveness may be an effective method of screening for subthreshold psychopathic traits in non-forensic samples.

The aim of the current investigation was to examine the barriers encountered by Tasmanian registered nurses when attempting to provide optimal pain management. The impact of nurse satisfaction with their professional relationship with physicians during pain management on the types of barriers encountered was also examined. A total of 1,015 registered nurses completed a 21-item survey that examined the types of barriers encountered during pain management. In addition, data were gathered on nurses' satisfaction with their professional relationship with physicians during pain management. More than one-third of the respondents indicated that they had encountered at least one type of barrier to providing optimal pain relief, including insufficient cooperation by physicians and inadequate prescriptions of analgesic medications. Nurses who did not feel adequately consulted by physicians were significantly more likely to encounter barriers such as insufficient cooperation by patient's physicians and inadequate prescription of analgesic medications. The barriers to effective pain management encountered by nurses were affected by their relationship with physicians. Education, for both nurses and physicians, concerning the role of the nurse in the workplace will help to ensure that nurses encounter fewer barriers during pain management. Optimal pain management practice will result if guidelines for dealing effectively with barriers are tailored to the specific type of institution and the unit within those institutions. © 2003 by the American Society of Pain Management Nurses.

The present research investigated the separate and interactive effects of the minor tranquilliser, temazepam, and a low dose of alcohol on the amplitude and latency of P300 and on reaction time. Twenty-four participants completed four drug treatments in a repeated measures design. The four drug treatments, organised as a fully repeated 2×2 design, included a placebo condition, an alcohol only condition, a temazepam only condition, and an alcohol and temazepam combined condition. Event-related potentials were recorded from midline sites Fz, Cz, and Pz within an oddball paradigm. The results indicated that temazepam, with or without the presence of alcohol, reduced P300 amplitude. Alcohol, on the other hand, with or without the presence of temazepam, affected processing speed and stimulus evaluation as indexed by reaction time and P300 latency. At the low dose levels used in this experiment alcohol and temazepam appear not to interact, which suggests that they affect different aspects of processing in the central nervous system. © 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The efficacy of prolonged single sessions of live graded exposure (LGE) and computer-aided vicarious exposure (CAVE) for spider phobia was examined in a single-blind, controlled trial. Forty participants diagnosed with specific phobia (spiders) received a prolonged single-session treatment of either therapist-aided LGE comprising exposure only or CAVE, or were assigned to a waiting list. Phobic symptomatology was measured at pre- and post-treatment, and at 1-month follow-up on a range of behavioural and subjective assessments. The results showed that the single-session therapist-aided LGE was superior to both CAVE and the waiting-list control. In contrast with previous findings of comparability between LGE and CAVE, and superiority of CAVE over placebo, the present study found no significant differences between the CAVE and waiting-list groups, with the exception of subjective units of distress, providing little support for single-session CAVE treatment.

Contemporary steganographic systems encode hidden messages inside the least significant bit layers of colour natural images. The presence of these messages is difficult to detect through statistical attacks. This study examined whether humans could detect steganography in natural images using a controlled 2AFC discrimination task. While d'>1 was observed for colour layers 3-8, Layer 1 had a negative d'. Thus, Layer I embedding is highly resistant to visual attack, since observers were more likely to indicate the presence of steganography in the control image than the embedded image. © 2005 IEEE.