Judy Slee Student Seminar Series: PhD Candidate Panel

Nicholas Wyche is a first-year PhD candidate in the Research School of Psychology at ANU, under the supervision of A/Prof Stephanie Goodhew. He completed a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in 2020. His current work examines the impacts of ageing upon cognitive processing, with a particular focus on translating theoretical insights into applied contexts.

Current licence renewal systems for elderly drivers employ medical exams and eyesight tests to assess driving competency. These assessments are mediocre predictors of accident risk as they do not evaluate impairment in dynamic cognitive abilities such as attention and memory. One promising assessment which measures dynamic processes is the Useful Field of View task (UFOV). Unusually, this task has been the subject of substantial applied research despite ambiguity about which cognitive abilities are recruited in task performance. My research seeks to identify the cognitive processes implicated in completion of UFOV, to give this valuable tool a more solid theoretical grounding.

Jaimee Forster is a second year clinical PhD student in the Research School of Psychology. She completed a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) in 2019. Her PhD research investigates how beliefs are formed along the delusional continuum, and how cognitive and emotional processes interact in delusion formation. She is supervised by A/Prof Bruce Christensen, Dr Eryn Newman, and Prof Deanna Barch.

Delusions are a crippling symptom of Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD’s), with milder delusional ideation also seen in non-clinical populations. However, it remains debated how these delusional beliefs form. To date, both the theoretical and empirical literature focuses on how those with SSD’s have cognitive (top-down) deficits, and an increased salience toward emotional (bottom-up) information. This presentation will outline a discrete-choice conjoint experiment aimed to investigate how belief and delusion formation is implicated when these processes are put head-to-head. That is, how are beliefs along the delusional continuum formed when participants are presented with rational versus emotional information?

Bethany Muir is a second-year PhD candidate in the Research School of Psychology at ANU, supervised by Dr. Eryn Newman, Professor Meredith Rossner (ANU, Criminology) and Professor Dan Simon (USC, Law). She completed a Bachelor of Psychology (Hon.) in 2019 at the University of Tasmania. Her PhD research examines how contextual background cues, produced through virtual court trials, can influence impressions and decisions.

In 2020, there was a dramatic shift to fully remote courtrooms. In 2021, virtual court platforms remain all over the world. While remote hearings reduce costs and maintain efficiency, virtual trials on platforms like Zoom introduce contextual cues otherwise absent in a physical court. In my research I examine how these contextual cues may influence juror decision-making and impressions of witnesses/defendants. In our initial research, we find that background cues systematically influence impressions of others: defendants with custody-like backdrops are evaluated less favourably. My ongoing program of research examines the conditions under which these contextual biases occur, and, with the fairness and efficacy of the virtual court in mind, how such biases can be eliminated.