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Psychology May Colloquium presented by Dr Paul Strutt
From: Sue Veen
Valid from: Monday 13 May 2024 to Wednesday 22 May 2024
The School of Psychology invites you to attend our May Colloquium presented by Dr Paul Strutt.
Date: 22nd May
Time: 2pm to 3pm
Location: WSU Kingswood campus, Building I.1.14 (Webinar option also available)
Title
Contemporary Neuropsychological Practice: Considerations for Test Development and Normative Data
Presentation Summary
In this talk, Dr Paul Strutt will present a new cognitive assessment tool called LEAF Café, the result of a research collaboration with researchers across Western Sydney University and beyond. He will also discuss new and exciting collaborative research opportunities being developed in the School of Psychology’s new Neuropsychology Research Theme.
Current methods of screening for cognitive impairment lack sensitivity, have poor ecological validity, and can be quite anxiety- provoking for examinees. LEAF Café, a low-immersive virtual reality assessment, seeks to address these limitations in an engaging and dynamic way. The talk will provide an introduction and overview of the task to give attendees a good sense of the ‘look and feel’ of the tool and will discuss the research currently being undertaken to understand the utility of LEAF Café in terms of acceptability and sensitivity to identification of cognitive impairment.
In the second part of the talk, Paul will discuss the broad limitations of many commonly used cognitive assessment tools used in clinical neuropsychological practice, particularly in terms of the normative datasets that are used to evaluate examinee performance. Many tests suffer from the ‘small cell’, the ‘old cell’ and/or the ‘same cell’ problems, impacting test validity and limiting meaningful interpretation of test performances. The first program of research in the Neuropsychology Research Theme will seek to address these limitations by creating large, representative, and contemporary normative datasets for some of the most commonly tests of cognitive ability.
Biography
Dr Paul Strutt is, Director of Academic Programs (Years 1-3), Senior Lecturer, and Clinical Neuropsychologist at Western Sydney University. He holds a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Newcastle, and a Master of Clinical Neuropsychology from Macquarie University. His research interests are broadly encapsulated by two primary themes: 1) Investigating potentially modifiable lifestyle risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia, including hearing loss and repetitive head injury, and 2) Development of contemporary, sensitive, and reliable cognitive assessment tools for implementation into clinical practice.
Please register your attendance and to receive webinar link:
https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/western/school-of-psychology-colloquium-series-may-colloquium-presented-by-dr-paul-strutt
Attached document: Colloquium_Paul Strutt Final.pdf [954881 bytes] application/pdf