School of Psychology and Social Science Presentations

Improving Memory Through N-back Training

Paul Beavon — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 00:47:23 PDT

Jaeggi and colleagues have claimed that fluid intelligence may be improved through a cognitive training regime utilising the n-back task; maintaining that the improvement in Gf is realised through melioration in working memory (WM). To date there has been no evidence to support this assertion, however Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Jonides, and Perrig (2008) obtained a significant improvement in short term memory (STM). The current study examined the near transfer mechanisms of the single n-back task; specifically STM and WM as operationalised through the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities. Forty-seven participants were divided into experimental (n = 26) and active control groups (n = 21); and engaged in 20-daily, 20-minute training sessions over a 30-day period using either a single n-back, or a combined verbal and general knowledge task respectively. Before and after the training process STM and WM psychometric tests were administered, and subsequently compared for performance improvements. The constructs of WM and STM were found not to be significantly improved by single n-back training. Furthermore, pre-training test scores, and test gain scores were found to be independent of age.

Is There a Tiger Mother Effect? : An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis of immigrant Vietnamese-Australian’s parenting experience

Tony Nguyen — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:59:21 PDT

Current census data reports that more than a quarter of Australia’s population is from overseas (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2007). With respect to the Vietnamese population, the 2006 Census has reported over 150 thousand Vietnamese-born people in Australia (ABS, 2007). While there has been a steady rise in the immigrant Vietnamese population, few studies have examined this population and this is extended to the parenting and acculturation literature (Nguyen & Cheung, 2009). The research literature has also tended to lump together distinct ethnic groups that make up the “Asian” designation, thus obscuring the inter-cultural diversity of research (Liu, Pope-Davis, Nevvit & Topotek, 1999). In addition, existing research on immigrant Asians parents have focused heavily on quantifying Baumrind’s (1971) parenting styles on various outcomes (e.g., academic, social adjustment), and mixed results have been presented, in application to Asian populations. Few studies have employed qualitative methods and currently, no such study exists for the immigrant Vietnamese population. Through the use of Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, the present study attempted to address this gap in the literature by providing an idiographic perspective on the parenting experiences of Vietnamese Australians. Seven mothers and two fathers were interviewed through a semi structured format. Resultant themes revealed the significance of character development, a balanced approach and education. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Parents Raising Adolescents Diagnosed With Low-Functioning Autism and Their Perceptions of the Level and Quality of Support They Receive

Jayne Armstrong — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:59:20 PDT

Autism is a complex developmental disorder that currently affects 1 in every 110 Australian children. Research indicates that raising an individual with such a disorder can be very psychologically and physically demanding and that parents need to be fully supported during this time. Despite such evidence however, it would appear that very limited studies have been conducted to determine whether this support is actually being provided. This purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of parents raising an adolescent with low-functioning autism with regards to the support which they currently received from a.) The government and b.) The school in which their child is enrolled. Results suggested that for many parents, support from the government in particular was virtually non-existent and that this did indeed take its toll on their well-being. Results also indicated that a lack of financial assistance and information often left parents feeling isolated, guilty, and fearful, resulting in identity issues. The importance of hope at the onset of diagnosis was also considered, with implications being found for the ability of parents to cope and hence how they approached their role as a carer.

Pet Loss and the Elderly

Daphne D’Gama — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:51:06 PDT

Companion animals are known to provide numerous psychosocial benefits to their owners. It is due to these prominent and positive contributions that individuals develop a deep attachment with their pet. Consequently pet owners experience intense grief reactions following the death of a cherished pet. While numerous studies have focused on the experiences for children and young adults, the experience of pet loss for the elderly remains relatively unexplored. An in-depth qualitative research design guided by a phenomenological framework was used to explore the experiences surrounding pet loss for the elderly. Data was collected though one-on-one semi-structured interviews with thirteen participants aged over 65 years who lost a pet in the last 24 months. Thematic analysis was utilised to identify themes in their transcripts. Themes that emerged included the human-animal bond, the importance and meaning of companion animals in the lives of the elderly, experiences of death, intensity and duration of grief, factors influencing grief reactions, coping strategies and social support. This study provides rich information to enable professionals to respond therapeutically to those bereaved and guide future research in exploring the devalued and misunderstood field of pet loss.

Cognitive and Affective Correlates of Theory of Mind as Influenced by Task Modality

April Kane — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:51:03 PDT

This study investigated whether task modality influenced performance on affective and cognitive theory of mind (ToM) tasks. The sample comprised 56 “healthy” adults, including 26 males and 30 females, whose ages ranged from 19 to 59 years. Participants completed four ToM tasks, two of which were designed to assess the affective ToM process, two the cognitive ToM process. One task for each process was a visual task, whilst the second was an audio task, thereby assessing the influence of task modality. Task data was analysed to obtain correlation coefficients, which were compared. The correlations for the affective and cognitive processes used (r = .347, p < .01; r = .421, p < .01) were significant, and higher than those for the visual and auditory modality (r = .185, p = .173; r = .213, p = .114). These results supported the hypothesis that the affective ToM tasks would correlate highly with each other, and cognitive ToM tasks would correlate highly with each other, regardless of the task modality (i.e. visual or auditory). The findings support the research, highlighting that the affective and cognitive ToM processes are independent of the mode of the stimulus presented. Further studies may clarify these results by assessing the components using different tasks.

Karen Burmese Refugee Youth and Facebook: The Influence on Sense of Community and Belonging

Beth Hazelden — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:48:16 PDT

There are currently over 42.5 million displaced persons worldwide, with 15.2 million identifying as refugees. The Karen Burmese are a persecuted ethnic group forced to flee to refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border. Australia plays host to 22170 Burmese, with 80% identifying as Karen. For the Karen and other refugees, involuntary migration is a difficult experience. Refugees face many challenges when resettling into a new community, and refugee youth experience additional challenges. It is important for psychosocial wellbeing to have a sense of community (SOC) and belonging (SOB), but this may be disrupted for refugee youth. One way that young people have shown to connect is through social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook (with 955 million members and growing). The current study, through the use of two focus groups, aimed to explore how Karen youth (N = 11) from refugee backgrounds in Perth, Western Australia use Facebook and what influence their use has on their SOC and SOB. A phenomenological approach was taken and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used. Preliminary analysis identified several themes such as interaction, barriers to interaction, offline overlap, privacy, communication functions, and the importance of Facebook.

An examination of the nonresidential stepmother role

Jenine Rocca — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:48:15 PDT

Stepmothers are consistently underrepresented in stepfamily research (Orchard & Solberg, 1999), particularly nonresidential stepmothers (Johnson et al., 2008). The present research investigated how nonresidential stepmothers conceptualise, construct, and evaluate their roles, and to identify factors leading to their role adoption. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight nonresidential stepmothers residing in Perth, Western Australia, who had contact with their stepchildren for fifteen days or less per month. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data, and results indicated that in terms of their role conceptualisation, the participants perceived their role to have changed, compared their roles to existing roles, and also commented on their expectations for the role and certain behaviours they performed in the stepmother role. Roles were constructed primarily through interpersonal factors, such as talking with their husband or partner about their role, although personal factors and social factors were also important. The participants evaluated their roles primarily through feedback, and the stepchild's behaviour or how they presented. It is anticipated that these results will help inform services provided to nonresidential stepmothers.

Pathways to care : The experience of new mother’s perinatal mental health in rural areas

Belinda Butler-O’Halloran — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:48:14 PDT

This qualitative study sought to explore the lived experience of new mothers in rural areas. Specifically the experience of the women’s perinatal mental health was studied to understand the type of care they required in the early stages of motherhood. Findings indicate the women were unprepared for the difficulties of new motherhood which was isolating and lacking in support. New mothers found little help from the health care professionals such as GPs, CHN and Midwives due to professional time constraints and inability to develop a relationship. In addition new mothers were uncertain how unwell they needed to be before seeking help. Recommendations are made to escalate the presence of psychologists in the perinatal information groups currently running. This will ensure new mothers have timely information on perinatal mental health and provide the opportunity for early intervention and continuity of care.

An Exploration of Life's Issues That Adolescent Girls Face: Impacting Their Psychological, Physical and Spiritual Wellbeing

Samantha Lowden — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:23:59 PDT

As adolescent girls transition in their development they can experience numerous extensive short term and long term personal challenges that impact their mental health and personal wellbeing for themselves and society (Call et al., 2002; Tolman, Impett, Tracy & Michael, 2006). This research utilised interpretative phenomenology to explore insights and interpret the lived experiences of adolescent girls in psychological wellbeing (PWB), physical wellbeing (PhysWB) and spiritual wellbeing (SWB). It discovered coping strategies the girls employ, implied ways to promote resiliency, self esteem and self confidence and highlighted the benefits and ideals that adolescent girls are seeking from prevention or support programs. The research participants consisted of 13 adolescent girls, aged 15 to 16 years old; with the addition of the youth pastor and life group leader. Focus groups and semi-structured in-depth interviews were analysed using interpretive thematic analysis to assist in identification, analysis, and propagation of themes across the complete data set (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Four emerging themes were identified which include: coping techniques, physical wellbeing, support systems and church-based youth programs. In addition, a prominent unforeseen theme was social wellbeing. These themes participants deemed important for issues impacting PWB, PhysWB and SWB. The findings of this research broadens the psychological research literature for female adolescents’ health and wellness; including theoretical knowledge criterion for holistic (i.e. PWB, PhysWB, SWB and social wellbeing) prevention and support programs for adolescent girls. These findings imply that prevention (e.g., school-based programs) and support programs (e.g., church-based youth groups) for adolescent girls should primarily focus on the key social issues of fitting into society, friendship, family and intimate relationships (i.e., boyfriends) to address underlying influences on their self esteem, self confidence, independence and trust or faith in the community. Limitations of this study include the parental feedback not being included and the lived experiences being gender-specific (i.e., female adolescents only). Future research could include evaluating the dialogues of parents, friends and family. Additionally, future research could include an adolescent male sample to form a wider scope of knowledge.

Maternal Humanitarian Entrants “Me Time”: The ways social support works in a facilitated playgroup

Annmarie La Rosa — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:23:58 PDT

This study explored how maternal humanitarian entrants (MHE) ascribe meanings to the ways social support works in a facilitated playgroup context. The secondary research question addressed the extent to which accounts of playgroup support could be explained by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (BEST). A focus group followed by case study and follow-up interviews provided the women, staff and stakeholders the opportunity to share their narratives. Rich descriptions of their "lived" experience were central to the research purpose. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was employed to validate the ascribed meanings of ways social support manifested in the playgroup. The role of BEST contributed to understanding the effects of playgroup across ecological systems in the socio-cultural context. Five salient themes emerged from the data: Isolation, Dealing with Issues, Parental Focus, Accomplishments and Benefits and Feelings and Attitudes. The research assists in advocating for playgroups whilst providing valuable insight for other MHE in similar circumstances.

For Love or Money : The Underlying Motives of a Workaholic

Aleksandra Kosevic — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 00:23:57 PDT

In response to the technological innovations of the present era there has been a blurring of the frontier between work and personal life. For this reason there has been a rise in workaholism amongst employees in managerial and professional occupations. Workaholism literature is engrossed with its common associated negative outcomes, arguing for a preoccupation with materialistic rewards being one cause for this. The present study aims to explore the possibility that outcomes of workaholism pertain to the underlying motive of workaholism and these are not necessarily negative. Results indicated that autonomous motivation fully mediated the relationship between workaholism and job satisfaction, and partially mediated that between workaholism and burnout; suggesting that regardless of their nature of working, if motivated by an internal desire, workaholics are able to experience greater job satisfaction and lower levels of burnout.

Working The Companion Animal in the Context of New Interpersonal Relationships

Steven Remic — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 23:59:09 PDT

Companion animals are found in the majority of western households. In surveys it has been found that companion animals are often viewed as family members. There is debate in psychological literature on what people mean when they describe companion animals in familial terms, with three theoretical frameworks posited to help explain the pets-as-family phenomena. Attachment theorists suggest that pets meet all four criteria for psychological attachment. Other researchers have suggested that companion animals are positioned within family systems, and are part of the dynamic interplay between human family members. Evolutionary psychologists have suggested that companion animals take advantage of in-built nurturing mechanisms in humans. The present study utilises interpretive phenomenology to explore the unique perspective of a new romantic partner’s perspective of a pre-existing human-pet dyad. Eight participants, four male and four female are interviewed using semi-structured questioning to find emergent themes. Each theory will be critically evaluated in reference to these themes, and suggestions for further research in this area will be proposed.

Conceptualising Female Perpetrated Violence Towards Intimate Male Partners: A Delphi Study of Expert’s Views

Sarah Moate — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 23:59:08 PDT

Despite increased acknowledgement that males as well as females can be victims of intimate partner violence, compared to the extensive literature on male perpetrators of intimate partner abuse, the literature on female perpetrated violence towards male partners is exceptionally scarce (Dutton, Nicholls & Spidel, 2005). What is evident from the research that does exist, is that there is a lack of discussion and consensus in regards to the causal explanations specific to this type of female violence. The present study aimed to address this by exploring the ways in which local experts in the field of family and domestic violence conceptualise female perpetrated violence towards intimate male partners. Participants (N = 10) were drawn from a variety of sectors within the field of family and domestic violence including women’s refuges, police, policy, community-based services and the legal system. A two round interview and analysis process was adopted, with the initial interview identifying the participant’s positions in relation to the research questions, and the second encouraging the experts to revise their opinions in light of the other participant’s responses, in order to bring them closer to consensus. The data was analysed using thematic analysis and suggests current theories of domestic violence do not comprehensively explain female perpetrated violence towards intimate male partners. Further research establishing frameworks that can better explain female perpetrated intimate partner violence is necessary if effective services for both male victims and female perpetrators of domestic violence are to be constructed.

Towards an Understanding of the Separation and Mediation Experiences of Western Australian Fathers: An Interpretive Phenomenological Study

Carly Mercadante — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 23:59:08 PDT

The process of marriage breakdown can be one of the most painful experiences in life (Qu, 2004). The person who initiates the separation is more likely to experience more positive post divorce adjustment than the non-initiator (Wang & Amato, 2000) and is likely to undertake preparation for separation. In Australia, only 32% of men initiated separation in 2003 (Hewitt, Western & Baxter, 2006), it is possible then, that many separated men are ill prepared for mediation. The 2006 Amendments the Family Law Act presumes shared parental responsibility of children and requires that former partners make a genuine attempt to resolve parenting disputes through mediation (Fletcher & Visser, 2008). Even with legislative changes, many fathers continue to lose residential status with their children, and some fathers disappear from their children’s lives (ABS, 2008). This review explores fathers’ typical experience of separation and suggests that fathers may be ill prepared for mediation due to not seeing the separation coming in conjunction with the existing barriers to social support and services.

Retrospective Time Perception of a Long Task: Using Music to Distinguish between Attention-based and Memory-based Models

James Brooks — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 23:59:06 PDT

Attention-based models and memory-based models propose different outcomes of retrospective time perception of a long task. The effects of music on perceived time duration was used to determine which model best explained the results. In an independent design, 48 adults were randomly assigned to a silent condition or one of three music conditions. In all four conditions participants completed a Sustained Attention to Response Task . In the music conditions, participants listened to 62 songs for total duration of 23 minutes 10 seconds. The music conditions varied in the familiarity of the songs, and the instruments used to perform each song. Perceived duration, number of songs remembered, perceived familiarity of the songs, and number of errors on the Sustianed Attention to Response Task was measured. Overall, the durations of the music conditions were perceived as longer than the silent condition, providing support for memory-based models. However, the difference in perceived duration between the music conditions provides some support for attention-based models. There was no correlation between the number of songs remembered and perceived duration in the music conditions. This suggests that memory-based models are limited by short-term memory-capacity. There was no significant difference in the number of errors on the Sustained Attention to Response Task between the conditions, suggesting that the music did not distract participants’ attention away from the task or from keeping track of time. Research on perceived time duration is limited by the presence of a ceiling effect as participants are required to be informed of the approximate task duration.

Social Capital in Metropolitan Playgroups : A Qualitative Analysis of Early Parental Interactions

Hebba Gibson — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 23:59:05 PDT

Parents’ ability to rely on their social contacts to access different types of support is said to reflect their levels of Social Capital (SC). Playgroups are considered a hub for fostering SC that will benefit parents (Powell, 2005). However, empirical evaluations of playgroups that measure their effectiveness using measures of SC are scarce. The present study investigated early parental interactions in playgroups and the ways in which such interactions reflect parents’ levels of SC. Additionally, the study evaluated SC inequalities between parents relative to the strength of their social ties. A qualitative design, using phenomenology was used to understand the lived experience of parents during playgroups, their connections with other parents and their subjective evaluation of how they were supported. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with fifteen first and second time parents who were recruited via information letters emailed to metropolitan Playgroups. Verbatim transcriptions of voice-recorded interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Data gave rise to three main themes which were, ‘getting together’, ‘generating stocks of SC’ and ‘missing out’. From the themes it was shown that bridging and bonding ties were created during Playgroups that resulted in moderate and rich levels of SC resources, respectively. Additionally, some parents were less successful in securing strong bonds and consequently missed out on accessing some of the social resource during Playgroups. The results suggest that while Playgroups provide network opportunities, they can also foster judgement, conformity, dominant ideologies and SC inequalities. There are implications for facilitated Playgroups and policy considerations for SC inequalities. The results also provide theoretical implications for bonding versus bridging frameworks which seem to be inconsistent with the findings.

Burundian Refugee Mothers’ Experiences of Their Children’s School Readiness, and the Role of Supported Playgroups

Rebecca New — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 21:09:56 PDT

Parenting issues have been found to be some of the most challenging issues facing refugee parents in Australia, particularly in regards to their children’s education. To date, minimal research has considered the experiences of refugee parents from specific cultural groups in relation to their children’s school readiness and transition to kindergarten. Furthermore, there is a gap in research exploring how supported playgroups can assist refugee parents throughout these experiences. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to explore the meaning Burundian refugee mothers in supported playgroups ascribe to their experiences of children’s school readiness and transition to kindergarten. A total of nine participants were recruited, including six Burundian refugee mothers from ‘It Takes a Village’ playgroup, two playgroup staff and one kindergarten teacher. Using an interpretive phenomenology approach, data was analysed and four main themes were identified: concept of school readiness, preparing children for school, transition to kindergarten, and benefits of the playgroup. The mothers’ experiences of their children’s school readiness and transition to kindergarten were generally found to be difficult, and impact negatively on their psychological well-being. Furthermore, there were many perceived benefits of supported playgroups in assisting these women and enhancing their psychological well-being throughout these experiences.

Visual Memory Improvement in Recognition

Allison Prandl — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 21:09:55 PDT

Fluid intelligence and working memory might be improved by training on a visual working memory n-back task (Jaeggi, Buschkuehl, Jonides & Perrig, 2008). Previous honours projects at ECU have shown no improvement in fluid intelligence due to n-back training, and a significant increase in fluid intelligence associated with general knowledge and vocabulary task training. One possibility may be that visual recognition memory may mediate the improvement in fluid intelligence (Jaeggi et al., 2008). The present study therefore investigates whether n-back training can increase visual recognition memory. A sample of 47 participants underwent 20 days of cognitive training on either the single n-back task (n = 26) or a combined general knowledge and vocabulary task (n =21). Results showed that training using the single n-back task did not significantly increase visual recognition memory scores when compared with general knowledge and vocabulary training. However, participants who had high scores on the vocabulary training task did improve their visual recognition scores significantly more than participants who had low scores. During debrief, participants in the high scoring vocabulary training group said that they used shape recognition strategies to improve their performance. It is suggested that the vocabulary task may be better at training visual recognition than the n-back task and therefore fluid intelligence.

Marital Satisfaction and Conflict: A Cross Cultural Comparison Between China and Australia

Lauren Gabelich — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 01:34:46 PDT

The levels of marital satisfaction and how these were predicted by scores on the Romantic Partner Conflict Scale were assessed separately in Australian males (n = 48) and females (n = 100) and Chinese males (n = 321) and females (n = 321). Contrary to expectations, marital satisfaction was higher in the Australian sample than in the Chinese sample. However, there was a culture by gender interaction in which Australian females were much more satisfied than Chinese females. Satisfaction scores for males in both cultures were different, with males being less satisfied than females in the Australian sample and the converse in the Chinese sample with males being more satisfied than females. Scores on the Romantic Partner Conflict Scale more strongly predicted marital satisfaction in both Australian males (R_adj² = .43) and females (R_adj² = .21) than in Chinese males (R_adj² = .10) and females (R_adj² = .11). In both of the Australian male and female samples, Compromise in conflict situations was the strongest predictor in a positive direction of marital satisfaction. For females, Interactional Reactivity also entered the equation in a negative direction. For Chinese males, the strongest predictor of satisfaction was Submission (negative direction) followed by Compromise (positive direction). For Chinese females, Separation (negative direction) and Interactional Reactivity (positive direction) entered the prediction equation. These results show that how conflict is dealt with in the relationship is a much strong predictor of marital satisfaction in Australians than in Chinese and that the ability to compromise is important in both Australian sexes. In China, how conflict is dealt with is less important in marital satisfaction and the aspects of conflict handling that predict satisfaction are different to those in Australia and different between the sexes. These results indicate cross-cultural difference in the prediction of marital satisfaction between China and Australia.

Experiences of Parenting among Burmese Refugee Mothers in a Facilitated Playgroup

Beth Mclaughlin — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 01:31:09 PDT

Psychological literature suggests that parenting in an unfamiliar culture can be one of the more significant challenges experienced by refugee families (Lewig, Arney, & Salveron, 2010; Renzaho, & Vignjevic, 2011). Such parenting difficulties are often compounded by a perceived lack of social support. In response to this, emerging research has identified facilitated playgroup programs as instrumental tools for assisting families with resettlement in their new host context. However, the focused exploration of how such programs support parenting, particularly amongst refugee mothers from specific ethnic groups, has largely been overlooked. Through adopting a qualitative methodology, the proposed interpretive phenomenological study aims to further explore the experiences of parenting amongst a group of Burmese refugee mothers attending a facilitated playgroup. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted on Burmese refugee mothers, and playgroup staff, currently involved in the It Takes a Village Program managed by Save the Children Organisation. Common themes noted throughout findings included challenges between traditional parenting orientations and practices, and the norms of the host country. Furthermore, facilitated playgroup was found to provide instrumental support for mothers in negotiating parenting in a new cultural context. Importantly, findings of the present study contribute to a greater understanding of the unique refugee parenting context, and how culturally appropriate supports for women can be established.