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Research

Human Intelligence Lab  Human Intelligence Lab  Human Intelligence Lab  Human Intelligence Lab

The Big Lab

     The Big Lab is concerned with all aspects of human intelligence.....what it is, how it develops and what impact it has on an individual's ability to perform specific tasks.

     Past research has examined the blink reflex, the development of empathy and the basis of moral reasoning in children, speed of processing and the developmental change in executive functions.

     Click HERE for more information on blink reflex research.

     A big part of the Intelligence Lab is the research program Project K.I.D.S.  Project K.I.D.S. is interested in the way kids think, interact and learn. Students involved with the Big Lab us the information and data collected in the program for their research projects (see below for more information).

project k.i.d.s.

     Project K.I.D.S. (Kids Intellectual Development Study) is a research programme investigating the intellectual, social & emotional development of children. The programme first began in 1995 under the direction of Professor Mike Anderson, and has ran every year since in the April, July and/or October school holidays.

     In 2006, together with colleagues from UWA (Dr Allison Fox), Murdoch (Dr Corinne Reid) and Oxford University (Dr Dorothy Bishop), Project K.I.D.S. received a grant from the Australian Research Council to conduct a 4 year longitudinal study examining cortical maturity & the development of cognitive abilities.

     For more information, visit the Project K.I.D.S. website:

     www.psy.uwa.edu.au/pkids

Student Projects

Katie Leach:

Using the research program Project K.I.D.S., my honours project will look at individual differences in children's ability to sense and respond to the emotions of others. In particular, I will examine the development of empathy in school aged children and how this ability is related to emotion perception.

Yan Xia Chan:

My honours project will be investigating the development of the auditory processes in children using evoked response potentials (ERPs) in Project K.I.D.S. Past research has found that the ERPs of children with specific language impairment (SLI) are different from those of children of the same age without SLI. However, ERPs of children with SLI are similar to those of younger control children. Hence, results obtained will help us to better understand auditory processes in children and children with SLI.

Stacey Soh:

The aim of my research is to investigate if the circumstances that affect goal inhibition of attention in children. Specifically, I am interested in whether goal maintenance and/or developing inhibitory capacities facilitate the inhibition of attention in young children.

Chiara Horlin:

One facet of my research is to investigate the nature of sex differences in specific cognitive abilities in children and their relationship with intelligence. I also look at teh possible contribution of empathy/theory of mind abilities that generally exists between the sexes, and the potential role of prenatal testosterone ( as indicated by the ratio of the 2nd & 4th fingers) in determining this balance.

Another area of interest is investigating the underlying nature of mathematical abilities in adults & children. Specifically, the proposition that mathematical abilities may be served by a discrete cognitive ability or dependent upon either spatial abilities or general intelligence is investigated. This area of research also investigates how mathematically talented individuals perform at emotion perception & discrimination and whether any of the above abilities are influenced by prenatal testosterone levels.

Kobi Levett, Natalie Daniel & Di Harvey:

Amber Hales, Lauren Harrison & Timothy Lui:

The main aim of our study is to investigate children's ability to stay on task and whether it is related to their intelligence, speed of processing and memory.