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Published: October 30th 2011
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Hello again from Western Australia! I apologize for my absence as of late; I've been super busy in the lab working! However, I realized the other day that I never fully explained exactly what it is that I am actually working on here. So allow me to explain, for those of you who are interested...
My project here is investigating whether we possess an unconscious attentional bias toward attractive faces. Furthermore, we are attempting to disentangle the nature of this potential bias for attractiveness; that is, is our attentional bias toward attractive faces based on attentional capture/engagement, attentional holding/disengagement, or a combination of the two? Past research has demonstrated that we possess a strong conscious bias towards attractive faces. Eyetracking studies have shown that people look longer at attractive versus typical faces; moreover, when people are shown attractive faces, areas in the brain associated with reward processing are activated, demonstrating that it is inherently rewarding for us to view attractiveness. In the current project, we are trying to isolate whether this preference for attractiveness emerges automatically and without conscious perception. I won't go into the details of the experimental design, but essentially participants are shown faces for only 100 ms
(not long enough for them to consciously process) and we measure their reaction times to identify target probes. Ultimately, we are able to gain information (in the form of RTs) regarding the extent to which people show a bias toward attractive faces. We also have our participants complete a number of questionnaires assessing various factors such as their levels of trait anxiety, sociosexual attitudes, and sensitivity to reward because it is possible that such factors may moderate the extent to which they show such a bias. For example, people who have identified themselves as currently being in a relationship but not trusting their partner may show a greater bias toward attractive faces of their same gender because such attractive faces may be thought of as rivals/competitors and as such, people insecure in their relationships may be hypersensitive to such threats. It's a very interesting line of research, but also one that requires a lot of hours of testing and even more hours of data processing. Hence why I am spending so much time in the lab!
Thankfully, however, I have weekends off and can use that time to relax and explore the area. This past week was very exciting
because Perth hosted the semiannual CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government) meeting. In honor of the festivities, we had a shortened work week and the city offered free public transit all weekend! The heads of government from all countries in the Commonwealth gathered here in Perth, and even Queen Elizabeth came to open the meeting and meet with Australian heads of government. Yesterday afternoon, the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were driven on a motorcade through the city, and I braved the crowds and actually managed to get a spot right along the street. The Queen was driven by right in front of me and I actually got to catch a glimpse (maybe even two glimpes!) of her, so I was very pleased. The news later said that over 200,000 people came out for the event, so you can imagine how crowded it was!
Today, I headed over to Rottnest Island, an island about 20 kilometers off the coast of Western Australia and known for its fabulous beaches and bike trails. The island gets its name from the Dutch words for "Rat's Nest" because when Dutch explorers first arrived here in the 1600s, they saw the quokkas (see my photos)
and mistakenly believed they were oversized rats. In actuality, quokkas are little marsupials they are native to the region and are super cute. They freely wander around the island, and the little guy I took the photo of was hanging out right beside the bench I was sitting on.
The only way to get to Rottnest is via a ferry from Fremantle, which I boarded around 9:30 this morning. There are no cars allowed on the island, thus if you want to get anywhere you need to either walk or bike. I rented out a bike for the day and actually ended up spending almost my whole day riding along on the trails and stopping over at the beaches for mini swim breaks. Most of Rottnest is entirely uninhabited save for the occasional bike rider, and the only place where there are signs of civilization is an area called "the Settlement" which is where the ferry docks and there are a few shops, restaurants, and visitor huts you can rent out. Once you leave the Settlement, you are in what is considered bush territory (i.e., dry, sandy/rocky areas that no one would ever want to live in). Of course,
you can also stick to the trails that go around the perimeter of the island, where you are close to the crystal-blue water and sandy beaches that are great for swimming and snorkeling. I ended up doing a combination of both beach trails and bush trails. Big pro of the beach trails: the opportunity to swim whenever you got hot; big con of the beach trails: very windy, which made it harder to pedal. Big pro of the bush trails: the overwhelming vastness of it all (made you feel like you were in the middle of nowhere); big con of the bush trails: the stupid flies (similar in both number and annoyingness to the flies at the Pinnacles). All in all, I calculated that I rode around 24 kilometers/15 miles over the course of the day. There were a surprising number of hills out in the bush, and I have a feeling my thighs are going to be really sore tomorrow.
There was a lovely, very comforting sign that I passed as I was leaving the Settlement and entering the bush bike trails- Beware of Venomous Snakes. I didn't think too much of it, imagining that you would only
see those if you started wandering off the path or something. However, as I was riding along, I was going super fast down a hill when I saw something moving on the path about 50 feet ahead of me. As I got closer, I realized it was a 4-foot long black snack slithering across the road! By the time I realized what it was, I didn't even have time to stop and let it cross, I just zoomed by it as fast as I could. I'm not grossed out by snakes like I am by spiders, but they are still not something I particularly enjoy seeing in the wild- especially when they could potentially be venomous. However, after I was well clear of it, I must admit it was pretty cool-looking...although I would prefer not to see it again!
Overall, my day in Rottnest was a lot of fun and definitely one of the highlights of my trip here in Australia thus far. I had perfect weather for the trip, and despite how hot and sunny it was, I didn't even get sunburned! Tomorrow it's back to work and to hopefully finish up testing by the end of the
week (I need at least 15 more participants).
Now allow me to take this opportunity to teach you some of the lovely Australian slang I have picked up over the past month or so. Some of these words I'm sure you'll recognize, but others were entirely foreign to me at first! (Note: these are all terms that are actually used regularly in my conversations here, not just words I have read in a travel guide or something!)
arvo = afternoon
fivesies = late afternoon snack
whinge = to complain
bogan = someone who is lazy and doesn't take any pride in his or her appearance
chokkie = chocolate
oy = attention/hey!
mozzy = mosquito
bloke = man
brekkie = breakfast
Fremantle doctor = a cool breeze
lolly = any type of candy or gum
ratbag = a general insult (most commonly heard when my landlord is mad at her cats)
biscuit = cookie
sunnies = sunglasses
jumper = coat/jacket
cheeky = naughty
I'm sure there are plenty more that I am forgetting, but those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Overall, I find the slang to be very cute!
(Doesn't everything just seem better when someone asks if you would like to enjoy "a biscuit in the arvo"? And who can whinge about being offered chokkies and lollies?)
It's currently only about 9:00 at night, but I am completely wiped out from a long day of biking and swimming! It probably didn't help that I stayed up until 1:30 last night watching The Lord of the Rings. 😊 So, it's off to an early bedtime for me. Much love from the Land Down Under, and keep in touch! I only have around two more weeks here and then it's back to Canada!
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Bill
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the queen
Hi Lindsey, So was this glimpse of the Queen long enough to consciously perceive her stateliness or only subconsciously? :-)