| | PROFESSOR R.A.BOAKES |
| Email: bobb@psych.usyd.edu.au |
RESEARCH INTERESTS
My major interest is in the psychology of learning, ranging from research involving animals to aspects of human learning, including the application of laboratory-based principles to real-life problems. Current projects listed below include some which involve collaboration with other researchers in the Sydney region or with postgraduate students under my supervision.
1. Changing perception of odours and flavours.
This experimental programme is concerned with the way that people’s perception of odours and flavours can depend on past associations and can be changed by experimental procedures. We initially concentrated on perceptual properties and, in particular, on what we have termed the ‘tasty-smell’ effect. This refers to the finding that the degree to which an odour is perceived as ‘sweet’ or ‘sour’ can be altered as a result of experiencing the odour as a flavour in a sweet or sour solution. Experiments undertaken in collaboration with Michael Kiernan of Charles Sturt University and Dick Stevenson of Macquarie University have examined the role of awareness in this kind of learning and the extent to which changes in perception are predictable by associative learning theories. We are now starting to look at the emotional or hedonic properties of odours.
A recent publication on this topic is:
Stevenson, R.J., Boakes, R.A. & Prescott, J. (1998). Changes in odor sweetness resulting from implicit learning of a simultaneous odour-sweetness association: An example of learned synesthesia. Learning and Motivation, 29, 113-132.
2. Aversion learning and extinction in rats.
In this experimental programme we are examining the acquisition of aversions to odours, tastes or environmental settings as a result of pairing such stimuli with lithium-induced nausea. Current work with Judith Single is focussed on two main issues: the processes leading to extinction of such conditioned aversions and competition (overshadowing) between different types of stimuli.
A recent publication on this topic is:
Boakes, R.A., Westbrook, R.F., Elliott, M.& Swinbourne, A.L. (1997) Context dependency of conditioned aversions to water and saccharin. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 23, 56-67.
3. The relationships between activity, food intake and body weight in rats.
Giving rats access to a running wheel, even for just a few hours each day, can have a major effect on their eating patterns and body weight. Previous experiments have been mainly concerned with a particularly dramatic example, the phenomenon of ‘self-starvation’ or ‘activity-based anorexia’ whereby prolonged opportunity to run in such a wheel, combined with a restricted feeding schedule, can produce very high activity levels and a precipitous decline in weight. Currently we are examining the effects of activity early in development on later performance in a variety of tasks.
A recent publication on this topic is:
Boakes, R.A. & Dwyer, D. (1997) Weight loss in rats produced by running: Effects of prior experience and individual housing. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 50B, 129-148.
4. Causal judgements and retrospective revaluation.
This series of experiments, some in collaboration with Stephen Provost of the University of Newcastle, uses computer-based learning tasks where subjects take on the role of an allergist who needs to determine what factors cause some symptom in a client. The general aim is to explore the degree to which associative learning theories provide a satisfactory account of how people learn to make such judgements. Of particular interest is the process whereby people can come to re-evaluate the causal value of some cue experienced in the past on the basis of new information about some other cue (retrospective revaluation).
5. Retrospection in rats.
Related to the previous topic is an experimental programme which asks whether rats, as well as humans, display ‘retrospection’ and, if so, under what conditions. These experiments are being carried out by Danielle Karazinov under my supervision and use an appetitive conditioning procedure whereby cues such as lights and tones, or combinations of such cues, signal the imminent arrival of food. Currently they focus on the phenomenon of ‘release from overshadowing’; for example, if a rat first learns that a light-tone compound signals food, does subsequent experience of the tone not followed by food lead it to respond more vigorously to the light, when this is presented on its own?
A recent publication related to this topic is:
Dwyer, D., Mackintosh, N.J. & Boakes, R.A. (1998). Simultaneous activation of the representations of absent cues results in the formation of an excitatory association between them. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes., 24, 1-9.
6. Perceptual learning and wine expertise.
This project is related to the first one, on odour and flavour perception. It is concerned with the general question of how extensive experience with a particular set of stimuli can enhance a person’s ability to discriminate between these stimuli (perceptual learning). Some of this research is in collaboration with Michael Kiernan and Dick Stevenson. Other experiments, concentrating on wine expertise, are being carried out by Angus Hughson under my supervision.
7. Psychological factors in chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
Many forms of chemotherapy produce highly distressing feelings of nausea in some cancer patients. This project has the general aim of reducing the incidence of this side-effect. Currently Anne Swinbourne is carrying out a study under my supervision whose aim is to determine how best to predict which patients are most likely to experience either anticipatory or post-treatment nausea when they undergo such therapy.