Scientific Program
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Professor Neil Brewer
Professor Richard Bryant
Professor Maryanne Garry
Professor Elizabeth Loftus
Professor Qi Wang
Workshops
Functional MRI: Basics to Breakthroughs: Tuesday 3 January, 9:00-12:00, New Law Annex Room 442
About the workshop: Functional MRI is the major technique of cognitive and social neuroscience, providing researchers with an insight into the brain at work. However, as with most complex techniques, there are various issues that can hamper interpretation of even the “prettiest” data. This workshop, for beginners, will provide you with the foundation knowledge needed to critically evaluate the latest functional MRI research. You will learn about the basics of good functional MRI design, how the scanner measures brain activity, different analytic techniques, as well as some of latest controversies and breakthroughs in the field.
About the presenter: Professor Donna Rose Addis is a cognitive neuroscientist based in the School of Psychology at The University of Auckland where she leads the Memory Lab. She is also the Associate Director of the Centre for Brain Research and a Principal Investigator for Brain Research New Zealand. Her research uses neuroimaging techniques to understand how our brains enable us to remember the past and imagine the future, and how these abilities change with age, dementia and depression. Prof Addis has 15 years of experience using fMRI methods, having trained at world-leading imaging centres in Toronto and Boston. She has published over 80 scientific articles and chapters, and has been awarded over $10M in grant money to support her research. In 2010 she was the recipient of an inaugural Rutherford Discovery Fellowship and the prestigious Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize. Most recently, she was awarded the 2015 Young Investigator Awards from the international Cognitive Neuroscience Society (being the first recipient outside of the Northern Hemisphere) as well as the Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society.
No replication crisis here! Learn to do open, reproducible science: Tuesday 3 January, 12:30-3:00, New Law Annex Room 442
About the workshop: In the workshop, we will discuss the reproducibility problems afflicting many of the sciences, and how various psychology journals and professional societies are incentivising better ways of doing things. Hands-on, you will practice study preregistration and the use of tools such as OSF.io for collaboration and project management. You will learn how to take advantage of new journal-based and other initiatives to both improve your practice of science, increase the ease with which you publish your work, and accelerate the rate at which you receive feedback from peers and accrue citations.
About the presenter: In 2006, Associate Professor Alex Holcombe joined the founding advisory board of the journal PLoS ONE. Ever since, he has been active in many new initiatives related to open science, such as PsychFiledrawer.org (co-founder), CurateScience.org, and the openness article badges (https://osf.io/tvyxz/) adopted by Psychological Science and other journals to reward open practices. Two years ago, he co-founded a new article type, the Registered Replication Report at the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science.
conference Symposia
- Eyewitness identification's young scientists, chaired by Neil Brewer
- Autobiographical memory in health and disease, chaired by Muireann Irish
- New Issues and new perspectives on flashbulb memory research, chaired by Olivier Luminet (and featuring Keynote Speaker, Qi Wang)
- Cognitive and memory processes in clinical disorders, chaired by Michelle Moulds (and featuring Keynote Speaker, Richard Bryant)
- Decision making under uncertainty: The case of climate change, chaired by Stephan Lewandowsky
- Motivated rejection of (climate) science: Causes, tools, and effects, chaired by Stephan Lewandowsky
- Beyond inhibition: Effects of collaborative remembering on agreement, meaning-making, and memory qualities, chaired by Celia Harris
- Factors that influence monitoring of misinformation, chaired by Katya Numbers (and featuring Keynote Speaker, Elizabeth Loftus)
- The new horizon of foresight: From philosophy to applied settings, chaired by Aline Cordonnier
- Facing the future: Understanding human and machine performance in face identification systems, chaired by David White
- Memory in educational contexts: New directions, chaired by Penny Van Bergen
- Memory, performance, and the arts, chaired by John Sutton
- The continued-influence effect of misinformation, chaired by Ullrich Ecker
- Parents' contribution to constructing narrative identity, chaired by Christin Kœber
- Current investigations in immediate eyewitness recall, chaired by Helen Paterson
- Visual cognition in real-life contexts, chaired by Sophie Nightingale
- Looking for essences: The influence of essentialist beliefs on real world reasoning, chaired by Jessecae Marsh
- Negative psychological consequences of video game use? Evidence that statistical, methodological and moderating factors influence typical post-game effects, chaired by Aaron Drummond
- Considering the evidence: Factors that influence memory and perceptions in police investigations, chaired by William Crozier
- Autobiographical narrative coherence: Structure, style, and associations with well-being, chaired by Theodore Waters
- On the relationship between deception and memory, chaired by Henry Otgaar
- Surprising cognitive errors and memory, chaired by Alan Scoboria
Social Program
conference reception
A trip to Australia would not be complete without attending an Aussie BBQ. Join us for nibblies and drinks at the Botany Lawn on January 3 from 3:00-5:00.
conference dinner
The conference dinner will be held on Thursday the 5th of January 2017 from 7pm-11:30pm at Waterfront (27 Circular Quay West, The Rocks).
The conference dinner will include a two course alternate serve menu, and a 3 hour beverage package (7.00pm – 10.00pm; cash bar to be available once the beverage package concludes). Busses will leave from the Quadrangle building at 5:30pm (for those who want to explore The Rocks) and 6:30pm. Busses will depart from the conference dinner at 10:30pm, 11:30pm, and 11:45pm and drop people off at The Mercure, The Old Clare Hotel, and Glebe Space Hotel.
student activities
The SARMAC student representatives are in the process of organising some exciting student activities including:
- Student Meet and Greet: Students will have the opportunity to meet one another at Taste Baguette prior to the commencement of the conference (January 3, 2:00-3:00).
- Lunch with the Experts: Students will be able to enjoy lunch and sit at a table with an expert in their area. Students who sign up for the lunch when registering will be contacted and matched up with an expert in their field.
sightseeing activities
Breakfast in Bondi
We have arranged for an early morning bus transfer to and from the beautiful Bondi Beach on Wednesday, 4 January. You will be free to have a swim, walk along the beach, and/or enjoy breakfast in a nearby cafe. Delegates will arrive back in time for the conference. Please note that it is perfectly acceptable to arrive at the conference with sand between your toes. In fact, we encourage it! Busses will depart from the Quadrangle Building at 6:30am sharp. *Breakfast not included.*
We will be offering other informal opportunities to see some of Sydney’s highlights, including the beaches, wildlife, and harbour. Stay tuned!