Student Awards

Each year we were pleased to recognise the significant contributions our students made to research projects undertaken within our Centre. Our Centre acknowledged outstanding contributions through two schemes: Excellence in Research Student Award – Publications; and Excellence in Research Award – Poster. The quality and the number of outstanding publications and poster presentations always made it an extremely difficult decision process for our Research Management Committee.

Excellence in Research – Student Publication Awards

Winners of the CCD Excellence in Research Student Award for outstanding publications each received a $1,000 prize and were invited to give a speed presentation at the subsequent Centre’s Annual Workshop.

Jemma Collova (Person Perception, The University of Western Australia): Collova, J.R., Kloth, N., Crookes, K., Burton, N., Chan, C.Y., Hsiao, J.H., & Rhodes, G. (2017). A new other-race effect for gaze perceptionJournal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 43(11), 1857-1863. 

Michelle Edwards (Memory, The University of Sydney): Edwards, M., Stewart, E., Palermo, R., & Lah, S. (2017). Facial emotion perception in patients with epilepsy: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 16(83), 212-225.

Dr Tijl Grootswagers (Perception in Action, Macquarie University): Grootswagers, T., Ritchie, J.B., Wardle, S.G., Heathcote, A., & Carlson, T.A. (2017). Asymmetric compression of representational space for object animacy categorization under degraded viewing conditions.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 29(12), 1995-2010. 

Rosalind Hutchings (Memory, The University of Sydney): Hutchings, R., Palermo, R., Piguet, O., & Kumfor, F. (2017). Disrupted face processing in frontotemporal dementia: A review of the clinical and neuroanatomical evidence.Neuropsychology Review, 27(1), 18-30. 

Siddharth Ramanan (Memory, The University of Sydney): Ramanan, S., Piguet, O., & Irish, M. (2017). Rethinking the role of the angular gyrus in remembering the past and imagining the future: The contextual integration model.The Neuroscientist, 24(4), 342–352. 

Signy Wegener (Reading, Macquarie University): Wegener, S., Wang, H.-C., de Lissa, P., Robidoux, S., Nation, K., & Castles, A. (2018). Children reading spoken words: Interactions between vocabulary and orthographic expectancy.Developmental Science, 21(3), e12577.

Laura McLaughlin Engfors (Person Perception Program, The University of Western Australia): Engfors, L.M., Jeffery, L., Gignac, G.E., & Palermo, R. (2017) Individual differences in adaptive norm-based coding and holistic coding are associated yet each contributes uniquely to unfamiliar face recognition ability. Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, Vol 43(2), 281-293. 

Dr Yong Zhi Foo (Person Perception Program, The University of Western Australia): Foo, Y., Nakagawa, S., Rhodes, G., & Simmons, L.W. (2017). The effects of sex hormones on immune function: a meta-analysis. Biological Reviews, 92, 551-571.

Dr Xuejing Lu (Language Program, Macquarie University): Lu, X., Ho, H.T., Sun, Y., Johnson, B.W., & Thompson, W.F. (2016). The influence of visual information on auditory processing in individuals with congenital amusia: An ERP study. NeuroImage, 135, 142-151. 

Ben McLean (Belief Formation Program, Flinders University): McLean, B.F., Mattiske, J.K., & Balzan, R.P. (2016). Association of the jumping to conclusions and evidence integration biases with delusions in psychosis: A detailed meta-analysis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 43, 344-354. 

Elizabeth Stewart (Memory Program, The University of Sydney): Stewart, E., Catroppa, C., & Lah, S. (2016). Theory of Mind in Patients with Epilepsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Neuropsychology Review, 26, 3-24. 

Dr Nathan Caruana (Neural Markers, Macquarie University): Caruana, N., Brock, J., & Woolgar A. (2015). A frontotemporoparietal network common to initiating and responding to joint attention bids. NeuroImage, 108, 34-46.

Rebecca Gelding (Neural Markers, Macquarie University): Gelding, R.W., Thompson, W.F. & Johnson, B.W. (2015). The pitch imagery arrow task: effects of musical training, vividness and mental control. PLoS ONE, 10(3), e0121809.

Dr Kiri Mealings (Language Program, Macquarie University): Mealings, K. T., Demuth, K., Buchholz, J. M., & Dillion, H. (2015). The effect of different open plan and enclosed classroom acoustic conditions on speech perception in Kindergarten children. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 138(4), 2458–2469.

Lina Teichmann (Perception in Action, Macquarie University): Teichmann, A.L., Nieuwenstein, M. R., & Rich, A. N. (2015). Red, green, blue equals 1, 2, 3: Digit-colour synesthetes can use structured digit information to boost recall of color sequences. Cognitive Neuroscience, 6(2-3), 100-110.

Sicong Tu (Memory Program, The University of New South Wales): Tu, S., Wong, S., Hodges, J.R., Irish, M., Piguet, O., & Hornberger, M. (2015). Lost in spatial translation - A novel tool to objectively assess spatial disorientation in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. Cortex, 67, 83-94.

Amy Dawel (Person Perception Program, The Australian National University): Dawel, A., Palermo, R., O'Kearney, R., Irons, J., & McKone, E. (2015). Fearful faces drive gaze-cueing and threat bias effects in children on the lookout for danger. Developmental Science, 18(2), 219–231.

Wei He (Neural Markers, Macquarie University): He, W., Brock, J., & Johnson, B.W. (2015). Face processing in the brains of pre-school aged children measured with MEG. NeuroImage, 106, 317-327. 

Robert Ross (Belief Formation Program, Macquarie University): Ross, R.M., McKay, R., Coltheart, M., & Langdon, R. (2015). Jumping to conclusions about the beads task? A meta-analysis of delusional ideation and data-gathering. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 41(5), 1183-1191.

Sharon Savage (Memory Program, The University of New South Wales): Savage, S., Piguet, O., & Hodges, J.R. (2014). Giving words new life: Generalisation of word retraining outcomes in semantic dementia. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 40(2), 309-317. 

Leslie van der Leer (Belief Formation Program, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK): van der Leer, L., Hartig, B., Goldmanis, M., & McKay, R. (2014). Delusion-proneness and 'jumping to conclusions': Relative and absolute effects. Psychological Medicine, 45(6), 1253-1262. 

Mirko Farina (Belief Formation Program, Macquarie University): Farina, M. (2013). Neither touch nor vision: Sensory substitution as artificial synaesthesia? Biology & Philosophy, 28(4), 639-655.

Michael Gascoigne (Memory Program, The University of Sydney): Gascoigne, M.B., Smith, M.L., Webster, R., Barton, B., Gill, D., & Lah, S. (2013). Autobiographical memory in children with temporal lobe epilepsy. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 19, 1-11.

Robert Ross (Belief Formation Program, Macquarie University): Ross, R.M., Greenhill, S.J., & Atkinson, Q.D. (2013). Population structure and cultural geography of a folktale in Europe. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 280(1756), 20123065.

Sharon Savage (Memory Program, The University of New South Wales): Savage, S., Hsieh, S., Leslie, F., Foxe, D., Piguet, O., & Hodges, J.R. (2013). Distinguishing subtypes in primary progressive aphasia: Application of the Sydney Language Battery. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 35(3-4), 208-218.

Leslie van der Leer (Belief Formation Program, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK): van der Leer, L., & McKay, R. (2013). "Jumping to conclusions" in delusion-prone participants: An experimental economics approach. Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 19(3), 257-267


Excellence in Research – Student Poster Award

During the student poster session on day one of the Annual Workshop, the best PhD and Masters/Honours posters were selected, with the winners receiving a $500 prize and an opportunity to give a speed presentation on day two of the Annual Workshop.

Best PhD Poster - Signy Wegener (Reading Program, Macquarie University): Orthographic skeletons: What form do they take?

Best Postgraduate Poster - Lyndall Murray (Reading Program, Macquarie University): The role of oral vocabulary for children reading orthographically irregular novel words.

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Yu (Sherry) Chen (Memory Program, The University of Sydney): Cerebellar white matter changes and their contributions to cognitive dysfunction in frontotemporal dementias.

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Selene Petit (Perception in Action, Macquarie University): Discovering hidden treasures: Towards a measure of command-following abilities in non-verbal children using functional transcranial doppler ultrasound.

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Bianca Thorup (Person Perception Program, The University of Western Australia): Increased motivation does not reduce other-race effects in face recognition or in categorizing faces by national origin.

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Kaitlyn Turbett (Person Perception Program, The University of Western Australia): Do individual differences in serial dependence for facial identity contribute to variation in face recognition abilities?

Best PhD Poster - Joint winner - Lina Teichmann (Perception in Action, Macquarie University): Seeing colour where there is none: Decoding the implied colour of grey-scale objects using MEG.

Best PhD Poster - Joint winner - Jemma Collova (Person Perception Program, The University of Western Australia): First impressions of children's faces: Not the same as for adults' faces.

Best Postgraduate Poster - Cheng Liang (Memory Program, The University of Sydney): Longitudinal brain imaging correlates of episodic memory impairments in dementia.

Highly Commended Postgraduate Poster - Andrea Stalins (Reading Program, Macquarie University): Orthographic facilitation for word learning in deaf and hard of hearing children.

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Siddharth Ramanan (Memory Program, The University of Sydney): Exploring the contribution of lateral parietal regions to episodic retrieval.

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Olivia Brancatisano (Language Program, Macquarie University): Smiles are more frequent during autobiographical memories triggered by music than those triggered by photos.

Best PhD Poster - Stephanie Wong (Memory Program, Macquarie University / NeuRA): Learning to trust: insights from a multi-round trust game in dementia.

Best Postgraduate Poster - Signy Wegener (Reading Program, Macquarie University): Orthographic learning in children can commence before written words are seen: Evidence from eye movements

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Jemma Collova (Person Perception Program, The University of Western Australia): Is there an own-race advantage for perception of gaze direction?

Highly Commended Postgraduate Poster - Ana Murteira (Language Program, Macquarie University): Gesture observation effects on action-picture naming

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Tijl Grootswagers (Perception in Action, Macquarie University): Predicting behaviour from decoded searchlight representations shows where decodable information relates to behaviour

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Lina Teichmann (Perception in Action, Macquarie University): Decoding digits and dice: how long does it take to access the magnitude?

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Bianca Thorup (Person Perception Program, Macquarie University): An own-race advantage for categorising faces by natural origin

Best PhD Poster - Nichola Burton (Person Perception Program, The University of Western Australia): The time course of expression aftereffects.

Best Postgraduate Poster - Lina Teichmann (Perception in Action, Macquarie University): Long term associations and serial recall: Using synaesthesia to probe memory for sequences

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Rebecca Gelding (Neural Markers, Macquarie University): Retention of imagined vs perceived pitch: Brain oscillations of musical imagery

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Inga Hameister (Language Program, Macquarie University): Constraint Induced Aphasia Therapy in the Non-fluent Variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia 

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Stephanie Wong (Memory Program, The University of New South Wales): The self-reference effect in dementia: Differential involvement of cortical midline structures in Alzheimer's disease and behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia

Best PhD Poster - Sicong Tu (Memory Program, The University of New South Wales): Accelerated forgetting of contextual details due to focal medio-dorsal thalamic lesion

Best Postgraduate Poster - Amy-Lee Sesel (Memory Program, Macquarie University): Remembering Together

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Amy Dawel (Person Perception Program, Australian National University): Face expression processing and attentional cueing in callous-unemotional traits

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Kiri Mealings (Language Program, Macquarie University): Investigating the impact of intrusive open plan classroom noise on speech perception: A case study

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Manjunath Narra (Language Program, Macquarie University) Time course differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in Simon task: Evidence from reach-to-touch paradigm

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Nathan Caruana (Neural Markers, Macquarie University): Simulating Cooperative Interactions to Investigate the Neural Correlates of Joint Attention

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Sharon Savage (Memory Program, The University of New South Wales): Words over time: maintaining benefits of word retraining in Semantic Dementia

Highly Commended PhD Poster - Vana Webster (Memory Program, Macquarie University): With a Little Help From My Fast Friends: How Intimacy and Divided Attention Affects Collaborative Recall