Research Categories

Faculty

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Psychology

This category covers:

Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Cultural Processes
Cultural Psychology
Developmental Psychology
Evolutionary Psychology
Human Factors
Language Development
Neuroimaging
Organisational Psychology
Personality & Motive
Assessment

Personality
Personnel Selection
Positive Psychology
Primatology
Psychological Assessment
Psychology of Adolescence
Psychology of Language
Psychometrics
Quantitative Psychology
Social Cognition
Social Psychology
Socio-psychological effects of computer mediated communication: blogs, social networking sites, user-created content, etc
Stress and Coping

Some major areas of research as follow:

Cultural Processes
Our area of research examines the dynamic relation between culture and individual psychological processes. Examples of research conducted in the division are the role of culture in the construction of self, the influence of cultural values on psychological resilience, and the role of shared representations of culture and cultural value endorsement in cultural identification processes.

Social Cognition
This area of research examines human thought processes in social contexts. The relevant social contexts could be the perceived presence of social others, situations of interpersonal interaction, and the presence of social groups. Examples of research conducted in the division are the influence of cognitive processes such as categorization and framing on social behavior and group decision making, knowledge estimation and its role in interpersonal communication, and mathematical models of individual and collective decision making.

Personality & Motive Assessment
Our area of research deals with both theoretical and applied aspects of personality and motive assessment. Examples of research conducted in the division are the development and validation of questionnaire and non-questionnaire measures of achievement motivation, examination of culturally-specific factors in assessment of personality, and the establishment of "best practices" for using standard motive-assessment measures.

Developmental Child and Adolescent Psychopathology
Faculties in this area deal with a variety of issues including internalizing disorders and conditions such as depression,
anxiety, hopelessness and stress, as well as externalizing disorders and conditions such as aggression, conduct problems and juvenile delinquency, and the inter-relationship among them using both cross-sectional and longitudinal methods. Besides, faculties are actively engaging in the development and evaluation of effective interventions for aggressive children and adolescents.

Cognitive Neuroscience
Our area of research examines the neural basis of cognitive processes, with focus on memory use during sentence processing, representation in visual working memory, and types of manipulation used in verbal working memory. Additionally, it examines the use of semantic long-term memory to supplement verbal short-term memory and the relation between working memory, practice, and intelligence. Faculties are also active to develop new methodological tools to analyze and extract meaningful pattern from high dimensional brain imaging data.

Evolutionary Psychology and Primatology
Evolutionary Psychology (EP) is one of the newest and fastest growing areas of research in psychology. This field provides a framework for understanding the functional basis of human behavior. In EP, principles of natural selection are used to understand psychologicalphenomenon, from our simplest fears and desires, to our most complex traits of language, culture and morality.

EP also focuses on several areas of human behavior often ignored by psychologists such as the foundations of aggression, domestic violence, and sexual deviance, in an attempt to understand the factors that triggers these behavioral patterns. At NTU, there are three branches in the developing Evolutionary Psychology program, Animal Behavior, Primatology and Human Behavior. All three sub-disciplines study behavior from a functional perspective, but differ in the subjects of study. The Human Behavior program focuses on human subjects, the Primatology program focuses on non-human primates, and the Animal Behavior program focuses on the remainder of the animal kingdom.

Name	Research Interests
Asst Prof Ajai Vyas	The Ethoneuro Laboratory is a multidisciplinary research laboratory that works at the interface of neurobiology (approach and avoidance behaviours) and parasitology (behavioural manipulation of host by parasites). Majority of the work will relate to behavioural manipulation of rodents by Toxoplasma. We are a research group within School of Biological Sciences at NTU. We are situated in the warm and welcoming environs of Singapore. Our Research Fear and attraction are evolutionary ancient parts of our psyche. Using animal models, we study how brain brings about these; and what happens when they get mixed up! Our research program is inspired the fact that a parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, can invade rat brain and removes deep-seated fears from a rat’s psyche. Why? So that parasite can hitch-hike a ride to cat intestines (when fearless rat is eaten by the cat) and reproduce there. This paradigm allows access to a really specific perturbation system for fear. In our lab, we try to learn how this parasite manages to make rats fearless. Recently, we have observed that female rats prefer males infected with Toxoplasma over run-of-the-mill uninfected animals. This is interesting because females usually detect and detest parasitized males. A male teeming with parasites is infected because he likely has a poor immune defense, and thus a questionable genetic legacy. The fact that Toxoplasma can get around such evolutionary hard-wired behavior is exciting. We are now trying to learn the mechanisms of this effect.
Asst Prof (Adj) Ang Chong Han Jansen	- Resilience in law enforcement work - Offender behaviour research - Operations Psychology research - Leadership assessment & development research - Psychology of terrorism research - Detection of deception research - Crisis negotiation research
Assoc Prof Ang Pei-Hui, Rebecca	Dr. Ang's research interests include the following: disruptive behavior disorders (ADHD, ODD, CD) including child/adolescent aggression, and related interventions; child/adolescent maladaptive behaviors and coping inclusive of parent-child relationship issues, teacher-student relationship and school-related issues; and the development and validation of psychological scales for use in clinical child and school-going populations.
Prof Ang Soon	Cultural Intelligence International Business International Organizational Behavior Outsourcing Talent Management Human Resource Consulting
Assoc Prof Benjamin Hill Detenber	Dr. Detenber's research interests include the following: Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Media Use and Impact of Information and Communication Technologies Internet Studies Computer-mediated Communication Media and Public Opinion Political Communication Quantitative Research Methods
Prof Bernd Schmitt	Schmitt's research interests include Asian consumer insight, customer experience, branding. and innovation. Specifically, over the last five years, Schmitt has published on cross-cultural linguistic issues in consumer behavior, on brand experience, and perceptions of firm innovativeness. He has co-authored a brain-scanning study on brand perceptions and developed a general model on the consumer psychology of brands. His research currently explores how customer experiences can enhance customer happiness.
Asst Prof Cao Fan	reading development and disorders in Chinese and English using fMRI and ERP neural correlates of second language learning in adults and children how cognitive neuroscience informs optimal instruction in learning different languages
Assoc Prof Chan Kim Yin	Professor Chan’s broad area of research expertise is in the area of human resource development and psychological measurement, focusing on entrepreneurial, professional and leadership development. His specific research areas of interest are as follows: 1. Career aspirations and development in the 21st century – holistic, lifelong career development in entrepreneurial, professional and leadership dimensions. 2. Leadership – Individual differences, leadership development and the motivation to lead. 3. Military Leadership and professionalism – competency and values-based/ethical aspects and broader human capital/organizational management and development systems, processes and issues. 4. Professions and professional development in the 21st century. 5. Entrepreneurial development.
Asst Prof Chen Chung-An	Dr. Chen is interested in a variety of public and nonprofit management issues. His recent publications pertain to work motivation, organizational risk taking, nonstandard work arrangements, knowledge creation, and government contracting.
Assoc Prof Chen Shen-Hsing Annabel	Assoc Prof Chen's main research interests are in clinical neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience. She uses neuroimaging techniques, such as, fMRI, diffusion MRI and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to investigate neural substrates possibly involved with higher cognition in the cerebellum. The goal of her research is to apply these paradigms to study the cerebro-cerebellar circuitry in clinical groups, such as mild head injury, dyslexia, autism, and alcoholism. Her other line of research investigates the neural correlates of healthy aging. She is also developing research in normative studies and tasks standardization in clinical fMRI, and has interests with ethical and clinical issues involved with neuroimaging for clinical applications and research.
Prof Chiu Chi-Yue	Professor Chiu's current research focuses on cultures as knowledge traditions and the social, cognitive, and motivational processes that mediate the construction and evolution of social consensus. He is also interested in the dynamic interactions of cultural identification and cultural knowledge traditions and their implications for cultural competence and intercultural relations.
Assoc Prof Douglas B Matthews	Neurobiology of Alcohol Use and Abuse. Effect of Hippocampal System on Learning and Memory.
Prof Gemma Anne Calvert	Consumer neuroscience Implicit processing How brands work in the brain
Asst Prof Georgios Christopoulos	Update: Please go to https://sites.google.com/site/labdeon/home for my lab webpage -------- Broadly, I am interested in exploring the mechanisms that describe and/or affect behavioral and neuronal responses while humans make decisions, especially in social settings. This is of course a very general question that encompasses very diverse topics such as: - Individual decision making (deciding on the absence of social information. Risk is one of my main interests) - Social decision making and strategic interactions (deciding while other agents are socially visible and present: allocation of resources; competition and cooperation, learning) - Organizational Neuroscience (organizations are the ecology of the modern human; I am interested in how the structure of organizations influences biology and vice versa) Coming to Singapore and NBS I found an environment with outstanding expertise in Cultural Psychology; my aim is to integrate this expertise with my interests. Methods Special emphasis should be given to the methods. I try to integrate different approaches aiming in exploring mechanisms while moving away from simple descriptive approaches, which while interesting are not anymore adequate to help us understand and predict behavior. To that aim I use: - Behavioral experiments and game-theoretic inspired approaches modeling social interactions and decision making. - Psychophysics - Computational Modeling - Biological and genetic measures (eye-tracking, skin conductance etc) - Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to encode brain responses 1. Christopoulos G, Kokkinaki F, Harvey N., Sevdalis N, (Accepted) Paying for no reason? (Mis-)perceptions of product attributes in separate versus joint product evaluation. Journal of Economic Psychology 2. Christopoulos GI, Tobler pn. Bossaerts, P, Dolan RK, Schultz W (2009) Neural correlates of value, risk and risk aversion contributing to decision making under risk. Journal of Neuroscience, Oct 7, 2009, 29(40):12574-12583. 3. Tobler PN, Christopoulos GI, O'Doherty JP, Dolan RJ, Schultz W.(2009) Risk-dependent reward value signal in human prefrontal cortex. PNAS U S A. Apr 28;106(17):7185-90. 4. Tobler PN, Christopoulos GI, O'Doherty JP, Dolan RJ, Schultz W. (2008) Neuronal distortions of reward probability without choice. Journal of Neuroscience. Nov 5;28(45):11703-11.
Asst Prof Helena Gao	Cognitive Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, Bilingual Development, Language Learning and Language Teaching, Computational Linguistics.
Assoc Prof Ho Moon-Ho Ringo	Assoc Prof Ho Moon-ho's research interests are concerned with the development and application of quantitative methods, in particular, multilevel modeling, resampling methods, structural equation modeling, and time-series analysis in the neural and behavioral sciences. His current research work focuses on neuroinformatics research, in particular, the theoretical development and applications of multivariate time series analysis method for extracting meaningful information from complex brain imaging data.
Prof Hong Ying-Yi	Professor Hong's main research interests include culture and cognition, self, identity, and intergroup relations. Representative Publications: 1. Chao, M., Chen, J., Roisman, G., & Hong, Y. (2007). Essentializing Race: Implications for bicultural individuals? cognition and physiological reactivity. Psychological Science, 18, 341-348. 2. Wong, R. Y-M., & Hong, Y. (2005). Dynamic Influences of Culture on Cooperation in the Prisoner's Dilemma. Psychological Science, 16, 429-434. 3. Hong, Y., Coleman, J., Chan, G., Wong, R. Y. M., Chiu, C., Hansen, I. G., Lee, S., Tong, Y., & Fu, H. (2004). Predicting intergroup bias: The interactive effects of implicit theory and social identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1035-1047. 4. Hong, Y., Chan, G., Chiu, C., Wong, R. Y. M., Hansen, I. G., Lee, S., Tong, Y., & Fu, H. (2003). How are social identities linked to self-conception and intergroup orientation? The moderating effect of implicit theories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1147-1160. 5. Hong, Y., Morris, M. W., Chiu, C., & Benet-Martinez, V. (2000). Multicultural minds: A dynamic constructivist approach to culture and cognition. American Psychologist, 55, 709-720.
Asst Prof Jeffrey Cameron Kennedy	Current research interests include the design and use of multi-source leadership feedback appraisal, and the effects of careless responding on attitude scales. He led the New Zealand component of Bob House?s GLOBE project comparing cultural influences on leadership across 62 countries, and contributed to a 12-nation study of managerial influence tactics.
Asst Prof Joan Marie Kelly	Assistant Professor Joan Marie Kelly is an artist and has been a faculty member of the School of Art Design and Media since 2005. She received a Master in Fine Arts from Western Connecticut State University and a Bachelors Degree from Maryland Institute College of Art graduating Magna Cum Laude. Art critic, Paul Khoo states: "Kelly operates in zones of contact, a theme elaborated in the 2006 Sydney Biennale: places where competing narratives of power compete, where silences speak to unwritten histories. Kelly reinvents the body through the environment of these zones: be it the foreign worker chattels of Little India, the brothels of Calcutta, or the factory towns of the Shenzen Economic Zone. These zones mark the intersection of the grand narrative of globalization and progress with those of the lived reality of those at the bottom of the pyramid. The recent trip to Arunchal Pradesh brings Kelly to another zone, one where a traditional, rural economy clashes with the forces of globalization." Joan Kelly has a growing exhibition record. Recent exhibitions include: Rajamangala University of Technology 2010, Ahuja Museum Kolkata India 2010, Mae Fah Luang Art And Cultural park Thailand 2010, Kolkata Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata 2009, India Fauzia Museum, Universiti Sains Malaysia 2008, International Drawing Biennial in the Czech Republic October 2008.
Asst Prof Josh Wheatly Keller	Asst Professor Keller's primary research interest in studying the way culture influences strategic management and organizational processes. He studies how culture influences the way people think about cooperation and competition (and their relationship and its impact on individual and firm-level outcomes. He also looks at how national-level logics influence people's thoughts about change and its impact on entrepreneurship and organizational change.
Asst Prof Jung Younbo	Dr. Jung has published research on the use of new technologies in medical interventions (e.g., virtual reality and haptics-enhanced systems for learning motor functions in stroke rehabilitation; and patient/clinician distribution platform with tele-rehabilitation application), the Internet and computer training for seniors to cross the digital divide, the effects of social robots? embodiment on their meaningful social interactions with humans, and the motivation and consequences of blogging in social life. His work has appeared in International Journal of Human Computer Studies, Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation, Journal of Cultural and Evolutionary Psychology, Discourse and Communication, and proceedings of CHI and IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops. Currently, Dr. Jung examines the effects of social interaction (i.e., role play) and multi-modal interfaces on video-game play.
Mr Koh Cheng Boon	My Research interests include: 1. Emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness – mixed methods design 2. Psychometric measures for leadership effectiveness, competencies and values 3. Calibration between confidence and quality of decision 4. Training and education measurement
Assoc Prof Lang Chin Ying, Josephine	Dr. Lang's areas of expertise are in organizational behavior, strategic management, and knowledge management. Her current research works focus on the decay of knowledge clusters, the impact of social networking sites in business, and the particularities of executive training and development.
Assoc Prof Lim Beng Chong	Team effectiveness, team composition, leadership, multilevel issues, decision making, social network, sensemaking
Asst Prof (Adj) Lim Choon Guan	- Mental Health - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - Brain-computer interface system - Computer use/gaming
Assoc Prof (Adj) Long Foo Yee @ Long Han Yee	Clinical psychology Psychotraumatology Psychological assessment and therapy
Asst Prof (Adj) Majeed Khader	Dr Majeed's research interests include Crisis Management & Crisis Psychology Forensic and Criminal Psychology, Leadership Psychology Legal Psychology Personality Crime in Asia Stress and Resilience
Asst Prof Marijke Van Kets	Research on Cinematography A study on the perception of cinematic technique and its influence on film language. The research focuses on the use of cinematic technique by the director of photography when shooting a feature film. Is this juggling with technical properties: lenses, lights, speed, shutter, f-stop and so on, effective? Can cinematography influence how audiences perceive movies? I argue that the application of cinematic technique adds additional layers of meaning, nuance and emotional context to shots and scenes along with their objective content. The study also suggests that the use of cinematographic differentials like composition, three-dimensional field and lens language, contributes to the film language.
Asst Prof Michael David Gumert	Currently, a long-term research project is being developed out of NTU to study the long-tailed macaques of Singapore and surrounding nations, such as Thailand and Indonesia. Macaques provide us a model for understanding the basis of behavior, and this project will investigate social exchange, aggression, cooperation, communication and movement patterns. In addition, Singapore currently needs a thorough understanding of their macaque population to develop strategies to resolve the human-macaque conflict issues that have become a growing concern throughout SE Asia. With such knowledge, Singapore could develop the model wildlife management program for maintaining a healthy macaque population in close proximity to human settlement. One major focus of the research program has been investigating cooperation in Indonesian long-tailed macaques. Recently, the research program released a series of studies investigating social exchange in macaques. It was discovered how grooming is used as a trade medium to coordinate cooperative exchange, and how the amount of grooming performed towards a partner was based on the current social market. Male macaques direct grooming to females mainly in a sexual context. During direct exchanges with mating, males groom females longer when competition for females is greater, as measured by supply of females per male. Similar results were found for female-to-mother grooming exchanges for infant handling. Here, the supply of infants per females influenced grooming payment. The foundation of these exchanges may be that grooming establishes a level of tolerance between a pair. This increased tolerance facilitates cooperation. Most likely through physiological and neurobiological alterations, the interface of grooming and the conditions of the surrounding social environment modulate an individual's motivation to cooperate. On islands in the Andaman Sea, Dr. Gumert and researchers from Chulalongkorn University have begun an investigation on a unique form of stone tool use. Here long-tailed macaques live on small islands and frequently come down to the rocky beaches where oysters are attached to large boulders and crabs, snails, and clams are abundant. To exploit these hard-shelled food sources, the macaques regularly use stone hammers. Research is investigating how this behavior may have emerged, how it is maintained, and how it compares to other forms of animal tool use. Moreover, these macaques use a unique form of axe hammering which may have implications for understanding early hominid tool use. In Singapore, research is being initiated that will explore social exchange and cooperation, the structure of societies, aggression and formation of power-based coalitions, social communication, grouping and movement patterns, and hormonal and genetic influences on behavior. In collaboration with Nparks, an investigation will be carried out on the urbanized monkeys of Bukit Timah, and Upper and Lower Pierce Reservoirs. In order to compare the behavior of Singapore's urbanized macaque population, a research project is also currently being put together to continue investigations in Indonesia. In collaboration with Universitas Indonesia and the Orangutan Foundation UK, researchers will investigate a much less disturbed population of monkeys in Tanjung Puting National Park, in Central Kalimantan, that live in their typical river edge environments. By comparing rural populations in Indonesia with the urban populations of Singapore, we can learn how urbanization has changed the behavioral patterns of Singaporean macaques.
Asst Prof Michael Donald Patterson	My research interests are in cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience. More specifically, I focus on working memory. In one project, I am examining how binding between items in working memory can be affected by semantic knowledge held in long-term memory. In another project, I am looking at the biases and flexibility in selecting to encode in working memory a limited amount of visual information from a complex visual environment. In a third project, I am examining the use of working memory during the performance of actions. I am interested in the cognitive and neural substrates of behaviors.
Assoc Prof Ng Kok Yee	Kok-Yee Ng's research expertise is in the area of international organizational behavior, focusing on the role of culture and cultural intelligence in the domains of leadership and multicultural teams. In 2006, she guest co-editored a special issue on Cultural Intelligence in Group and Organization Management, which showcases cutting-edge thinking from renowned scholars in the field. Her specific research areas of interest are as follows: 1. Cultural Intelligence - Measurement, Developmental Interventions, and Impact 2. Global Leadership - The Role of Culture and Cultural Intelligence on Leadership Effectiveness 3. Servant Leadership - The Role of Culture and Leader's Motivation-to-Serve 4. Multicultural Teams - Factors Affecting Interpersonal Trust in Culturally Diverse Teams 5. Multisource Feedback - The Role of Cultural Values in Affecting Rater's and Ratee's Reactions
Assoc Prof Ng Sok Ling, Sharon	Cross-Cultural Consumer Behavior Branding Issues Consumer Information Processing
Asst Prof Nguyen Duc Quang	Dr. Nguyen Duc Quang is working in the area of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Applied Microeconomics, Development Economics, Resources Economics and Demography. His research mainly focuses on Field Experimental Economics. He has conducted several field economics experiments on risk and time preferences, trust, and economics of identity
Assoc Prof Olexander Chernyshenko	Personality Assessment Personnel Selection Performance Theory and Measurement Classical and Item Response Theory Methods for Detecting Differential Item and Test Functioning
Asst Prof Olwen Anna Bedford	Research Interests +Moral emotions, Chinese face, guanxi, filial obligation +Conflict resolution +Organizational culture and ethics Selected Publications Bedford, O. (2012). Guanxi-building in the workplace: A dynamic process model of working and backdoor guanxi. Journal of Business Ethics, 104, 149-158. Chan, K. Y., Ho, M-H. R., Chernyshenko, O., Bedford, O. A., Uy, M. A., Gomulya, D. A., Sam, E. Y., & Phan, J. W. (2012). Entrepreneurship, professionalism, leadership: A framework and measure for understanding boundaryless careers. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 81, 73-88. Bedford, O. & Hwang, S. (2011). Flower drinking and masculinity in Taiwan. Journal of Sex Research, 48, 83-93. Huang, Y.H. & Bedford, O. (2009). The role of cross-cultural factors in integrative conflict resolution and crisis communication: The Hainan incident as a case. American Behavioral Scientist, 53, 565-78. Yeh, Y.K., Bedford, O., & Yang, Y. J. (2009). A Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Coexistence and Domain-Superiority of Individuating and Relating Autonomy. International Journal of Psychology, 44(3), 213-221. Bedford, O. & Hwang, K. K. (2006). Taiwanese Identity and Democracy: The Social Psychology of Taiwan's 2004 Elections. Palgrave-MacMillan, New York: New York. Bedford, O. (2004). The individual experience of guilt and shame in Chinese culture. Culture and Psychology, 10(1), 123-146. Bedford, O. & Hwang, K.K. (2003). Guilt and shame in Chinese culture: A Cross-cultural framework from the perspective of morality and identity. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 33(2), 127-144. Hwang, Shu-Ling & Bedford, O. (2004). Juveniles' motivations for remaining in prostitution. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28(2), 136-146. Yeh, Kuang-hui & Bedford, O. (2003). Filial piety: A test of the dual model. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 6(3), 215-228. Hwang, S. & Bedford, O. (2003). Precursors and pathways to juvenile prostitution in Taiwan. Journal of Sex Research, 40(2), 201-210.
Asst Prof Qiu Lin	My current research aims to understand how people use social media to present themselves, and how social media can be utilized to advance our understanding of socio-psychological processes. I am broadly interested in cognitive science, engineering psychology, and human-computer interaction.
Asst Prof Qu Li	development of executive function, theory of mind, emotion regulation, and bilingualism; the impacts of emotion, language, social interaction, and culture on cognitive development; inhibitory control; task switching; brain development; circadian rhythm on cognition and emotion regulation.
Prof Rajapakse Jagath Chandana	Professor Rajapakse's areas of expertise are machine learning, brain imaging, and computational and systems biology. Professor Rajapakse has pioneered several techniques for analysis of anatomical and functional MR images. His team was the first to develop techniques to model brain connectivity in an exploratory manner, using functional MR images. Presently, his team is investigating brain connectivity patterns underlying higher-order brain functions such as language and memory, and brain disease such as Parkinson's disease. He is also working on potential applications of brain connectivity and constrained independent component analysis (cICA) in Brain Computater Interface applications, especially in identifying different mental states and extracting features robust to inter- and intra-subject variations. Professor Rajapakse is presently working on identifying key targets in biological pathways. His research is centered on identifying co-regulated genes, building gene regulary networks, fusion of protein-interactions, and identifying key molecules and core networks in pathways. His team also develops techniques to segment cells and nuclei, identify protein subcellular localizations, and model spatiotemporal changes of cell morphologies from cellular images obtained from electron microscopy and high content screening.
Asst Prof Rupshi Mitra	Neurobiology of Resilience Stress targets everyone; but not everybody succumbs to it. Some develop stress-related psychopathology, anxiety, depression, dementia, while others weather it well and even emerge healthier. What makes some individuals resilient and others not? Comprehensive studies on 9/11 survivors and war veterans report that positive emotion helps resilient people re-route physiological resources activated by stress into successful coping strategies. Stress is known to cause brain damage, shrink neurons of hippocampus (memory center of brain) and enhance emotional learning along with neuronal growth in amygdala (emotion center of brain). Our research (@ Resilieo) is geared to find out how we can minimize and prevent brain damage caused by stress. Also, what is different and special in resilient individuals in terms of brain changes during/after stress? With this backdrop, we venture into 4 different lines of investigation. 1. Is there any difference in brains of resilient and vulnerable individuals? Our study on rats exposed to predator stress showed distinctive pattern of neuronal branching within amygdala of resilient individuals. Well-adapted (resilient) animals had more densely packed neuronal branching and maladapted (vulnerable) animals had more spread out neuronal branching of amygdala neurons. Questions we are pursuing now include, what determines individual variation in neuronal branching? And what are the possible factors mediating this? 2. How to rescue or prevent stress-induced damages (enhance resilience)? In addressing this question we employed gene therapy as a technique to deliver genetically altered proteins through viral vectors into specific brain regions. Targeted infusion of therapeutic molecules within amygdala rescued stressed animals from maladaptive anxiety, abnormal stress-response and neuronal over growth (hypertrophy). We continue to identify newer molecules for therapeutic intervention within amygdala and other brain regions. 3. Developing animal model of resilience Enriched environment is known to induce positive behavior and protection against brain damage. We are testing different enrichment paradigms to develop a testable animal model of resilience. Initial results are promising. Short term enrichment rescues maladaptive fear response in stressed animals. 4. Are resilient individuals better adapted? In an interesting new finding we showed that male rats exposed to enriched environment for a short 2 week period were more attractive and preferred as mates by females over non-enriched males. The enriched male rats also had stronger defense response against predator. Thus resilience not only makes individuals cope better with stress, but also has a bigger scope of adaptability in an ever-changing environment. Resilience triggers several physiological pathways that are directly beneficial for basic survival drives, namely, reproduction/mate-choice and protection from danger. We continue to investigate how enrichment drives basic physiology to be more adaptive? What are the pathways and molecular factors triggered by enrichment in this context?
Asst Prof Shirley Ho Soo Yee	Media effects and public opinion in the context of science, health, and environmental issues Computer-mediated communication Mass communication theory and quantitative research methods
Assoc Prof Soh Star	- Leadership - Cultural intelligence, cross-cultural adaptation and training - Human Resource Management and Employee engagement - Organisational socialisation Working papers Leaders' socialisation behaviour on newcomers' internalisation of organisational values: A multi-level analysis. Perceived attributes (Implicit leadership theories) of military and private sector leaders in Singapore. Engaging a globalised workforce: Does culturally intelligent leaders make a difference? Selected publications and papers Chan, K. Y., Soh, S. & Ramaya, R. (2011). Military Leadership in the 21st Century: Science and Practice. Singapore: Cengage Learning Asia. Chan, K.Y. & Soh, S. (2010, October). Military leadership education in the Singapore Armed Forces: A social-behavioral science approach. Paper presented at the International Leadership Association Annual Conference, Boston, U.S.A. Soh, S., Chan, K.Y., Li, Y. & Tay, L.P. (2010, September). Development and findings of the Military Implicit Leadership Theory Instrument. Paper presented at the 52nd International Military Testing Association Conference, Lucerne, Switzerland. Soh, S. (2009, November). Transformational leadership: Whose perspective (leader or follower) matters and influences followers' confidence and commitment? Interactive roundtable session at the International Leadership Association Annual Conference, Prague, Czech Republic. Soh, S. (2005, November). Psychological support for the SAF tsunami relief mission: An overview. Paper presented at the 47th International Military Testing Association Conference, Singapore. Soh, S. (2004, October). Applications of psychology in HR and training in a conscript army. Paper presented at the 46th International Military Testing Association Conference, Brussels, Belgium. Soh, S., & Chan, K. Y. (2002). Understanding the military experience in Singapore: An organisational psychology perspective. In A. Tan & L. Law (Eds.) Psychology in Contexts: A perspective from the South East Asian societies (pp. 9-31). Singapore: Lingzi Media. Soh, S., & Leong, F. T. L. (2002). Validity of vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism in Singapore: Relationships with values and interests. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33, 3-15. Soh, S. (2001, October). Validity and application of the Cross-Cultrual Adaptability Inventory for peacekeeping operations. Paper presented at the 43rd International Military Testing Association Conference, Canberra, U.K. Soh, S., & Leong, F. T. L. (2001). Cross-cultural validation of Holland's Theory in Singapore: Beyond Structural Validity of RIASEC. Journal of Career Assessment, 9, 115-133.
Assoc Prof Wan Ching	Ching Wan's research interests are in cultural psychology, social identity, and intergroup processes. Her current research foci include the development of shared cultural representations, knowledge selection and transmission, and the role of norms in psychological processes.
Asst Prof Wong Liang Chun Jaymz	Assistant Professor Jaymz Wong's areas of expertise are film directing, film writing, and film producing. His current research works focus on film psychology, film semiotics, film form and the future of Cinema.
Asst Prof Xu Hong	Dr. Hong XU's area of expertise is in vision perception. Her research interest is to study visual perception by psychophysical experiments and electrophysiological/neural imaging studies; and further model the neural network system with recorded neural activities. In particular, she is working on the following questions: 1.Visual Perception How do we visually perceive daily objects and activities (e.g. faces and motion) and how is the visual perception affected by our previous visual experience (adaptation and learning)? 2. Human-computer interaction What is the basis of effective design in visual displays? How does our visual system analyze large amount of data/information in a short period of time? What kind of optimization process is involved? Furthermore, what is the role of attention and eye movement in this process? 3. Computational modeling How to model the hierarchical process in neural network? How is visual information transferred from low level to high levels? How does the feedback system work synergistically?
Asst Prof Zhang Xiaoling	Shopper Marketing, In-Store Decision-Making, Social Influence on Consumer Shopping Behavior, Salesperson-Customer Interaction, Bayesian Models, Analytical Customer Relationship Management, and Social Media
Vg Assoc Prof Zhao Yansong	theories of chinese medicine, clinical practice especially in Gynecological diseases, internal diseases and dermal diseases

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