Research on show

Postgraduate students in linguistics and psychology at Macquarie University will present their work as part of the Postgraduate Research Festival on 8-10 December. Why not come along?

The Festival provides the opportunity for students to showcase their work to colleagues and other interested people. They each give a 20-minute presentation, followed by 10 minutes of questions.

Good preparation

Kerry-Ann Egliston is a mature-age psychology student. She presented her work-in-progress at the 2004 Festival, in the first year of her PhD. She says talking about her research in its early stages, and receiving feedback in a friendly and supportive environment, prepared her for later, more daunting, presentations interstate and in the United Kingdom.

“These conferences were a great way to meet and talk with leaders in my field of research – and the experience of the Festival gave me the confidence I needed,” she says.

Egliston’s study is looking at whether a mother’s stress during pregnancy can predispose her baby to mental health problems later in life. It is being carried out in conjunction with the Black Dog Institute and Sydney’s Royal Hospital for Women. Volunteers complete questionnaires 30-32 weeks into their pregnancy, and provide a blood sample to test for stress hormones. The impact of stress is then assessed when the babies are six months old.

Early data suggests that infants of mothers who reported feeling stressed during pregnancy have higher cortisol levels than those of mothers who didn’t. This is an important trend, since elevated cortisol levels have been implicated in psychiatric disturbances such as anxiety and depression later in life. The research group will follow up the mothers and babies as they move through childhood.

More psychology research

Colleagues who have registered for the Festival this year range widely in their chosen fields.

Mem Mahmut is examining the different characteristics of psychopaths who either live in the community or are incarcerated. Those who are not locked up do better. Tasks are now being determined for a follow-up community study.

Anthony Arcuri is looking at how Australian psychologists would handle the hypothetical situation of sexual attraction to a client. The aim is for results to assist training programs, professional bodies, supervisors and practitioners deal with this.

Oscar Ramirez is interested in cultural influences on gay men’s relationships.

Linguistics research

Japanese learners of English often complain that the language is spoken fast even when native English speakers perceive the speed as natural and moderate. Yoshito Hirozane’s hypothesis, now tested in two experiments, is that people tend to perceive speech as fast when they listen to languages that are phonetically and/or phonologically different from their first language.

Louise Reynolds, Audiology Clinic Manager in the Department of Linguistics, is looking at how audiologists and patients negotiate the size and style of hearing aids. The potential for conflict in such interactions has been identified as a challenge by both groups.

For further information on the Postgraduate Research Festival, visit www.lp.mq.edu.au/festival.htm While the Festival is not open to the general public, those thinking of undertaking postgraduate study at Macquarie in linguistics or psychology are able to attend after first contacting Robyn Guilmette or Lorraine Whybrow at festival@psy.mq.edu.au

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