Brittany Child

Miss Brittany Child

Higher Degree by Research Candidate

PhD Candidate

School of Psychology

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

I am a final year PhD student in the School of Psychology's Cognitive and Neural Sciences Lab.

My PhD research investigates the relationship between cognitive impairment and motor function in Parkinson's disease. My research seeks to better characterise the association between patients' motor symptom profile and their likelihood of experiencing cognitive impairment, with the goal of improving prognostic accuracy. My research also considers the motor-cognitive relationship in healthy ageing, and how this compares with the pattern of motor and cognitive decline observed in Parkinson's. I am especially interested in impairments in learning and decision-making, and linking these impairments to the dopaminergic changes observed in both healthy ageing and neurodegenerative disease. I am supervised by Dr Irina Baetu, Associate Professor Lyndsey Collins-Praino, and Dr Nathan Beu.

I have extensive experience as a course tutor and marker, and received the School of Psychology's Excellence in Tutoring award in 2022.

My current research focuses on decision-making impairments in Parkinson's disease, with the aim of mapping these abnormalities to the basal ganglia model of action selection. I am particularly interested in the relationship between cognitive and motor dysfunction; to this end, my research explores whether different patterns of motor dysfunction co-occur with and predict specific patterns of cognitive decline. This research may improve prognostic accuracy and inform assessment tools and protocols used in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders known to have both cognitive and motor components (e.g., Parkinson’s disease, stroke, traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia).

Poster presented at the 2019 Florey Postgraduate Research Conference.

Poster presented at the 2019 Annual Florey Postgraduate Research Conference (September 2019).

Poster presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (June 2019).

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2019 - 2022 Tutor University of Adelaide
    2018 - 2023 Marker University of Adelaide

  • Awards and Achievements
    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2019 Award School of Psychology Prize, Florey Postgraduate Research Conference University of Adelaide Australia $200
    2019 Scholarship WASAA Group Travel Scholarship Embassy of France, Australia France $3125
    2018 Scholarship Complex Human Data School Travel Scholarship University of Melbourne Australia $500
    2017 Award APS Prize in Psychology Australian Psychological Society Australia Nil
    2017 Scholarship Vacation Research Scholarship University of South Australia Australia $2400
    2017 Scholarship The University of Adelaide Honours Scholarship University of Adelaide Australia $5000
    2016 Award Roby Fletcher Munn Prize for Psychology III University of Adelaide Australia $200
    2016 Award The CB Martin Prize for a Philosophy Major University of Adelaide Australia $500
    2015 Award Norman Munn Prize for Psychology II University of Adelaide Australia $200
    2015 Scholarship Summer Research Scholarship University of Adelaide Australia $1200

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2014 - 2017 University of Adelaide, Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Psychology (1A Honours)

  • Postgraduate Training
    Date Title Institution Country
    2019 - 2019 New Trends in Information Technologies IMT Atlantique France
    2018 - 2018 Complex Human Data Summer School University of Melbourne Australia

  • Research Interests
    Biological Psychology Cognitive Science Experimental Psychology Neurosciences Psychological Methodology, Design and Analysis Psychology Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Neuroscience, Behaviour and Brain Health

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2024 Saywell, I., Foreman, L., Child, B., Phillips-Hughes, A. L., Collins-Praino, L., & Baetu, I. (2024). Influence of cognitive reserve on cognitive and motor function in α-synucleinopathies: A systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 161, 28 pages.
    DOI
    2024 Child, B., Saywell, I., da Silva, R., Collins-Praino, L., & Baetu, I. (2024). Cognitive function in different motor subtypes of Parkinson's disease: A systematic review protocol. Health Science Reports, 7(5), 8 pages.
    DOI Scopus1
    2023 Saywell, I., Child, B., Foreman, L., Collins‐Praino, L., & Baetu, I. (2023). Influence of cognitive reserve on cognitive and motor function in α‐synucleinopathies: A systematic review protocol. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1522(1), 15-23.
    DOI Scopus2

  • Conference Items
    Year Citation
    2019 Child, B. D., Baetu, I., Collins-Praino, L., & Burns, N. (2019). Reinforcement learning in Parkinson’s disease: Do motor symptoms predict performance?. Poster session presented at the meeting of 28th Annual Meeting of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society. Cairns, Australia.
    2019 Child, B. D., Baetu, I., Collins-Praino, L., Salamon, J., & Burns, N. (2019). Reinforcement learning in Parkinson's disease: Do motor symptoms predict performance?. Poster session presented at the meeting of Florey Postgraduate Research Conference. Adelaide, Australia.
    2018 Child, B. D., Baetu, I., & Burns, N. (2018). Watch and learn: Identifying optimal conditions for learning. Poster session presented at the meeting of The University of Adelaide Undergraduate Research Conference. Adelaide, Australia.
    2018 Child, B. D., Baetu, I., & Burns, N. (2018). Watch and learn: The effects of time delays and interfering events on our ability to learn. Poster session presented at the meeting of Florey Postgraduate Research Conference. Adelaide, Australia.
    2018 Child, B. D., Baetu, I., & Burns, N. (2018). Individual differences in working memory capacity predict performance on an associative learning task. Poster session presented at the meeting of Australian Psychological Society Congress. Sydney, Australia.

Senior Tutor

Research Methods and Statistics (Honours; 2020-2022)

 

Course Tutor

Psychology IB (Level I; 2021)

Learning and Behaviour (Level III; 2019)

 

Course Marker

Research Methods and Statistics (Honours; 2021-2023)

Foundations of Health and Lifespan Development (Level II; 2021)

Doing Research in Psychology (Level II; 2020)

Learning and Behaviour (Level III; 2019, 2021)

Psychology Skills and Applications (Level I; 2018-2020)

 

Other Teaching Experience

In 2022, I was the R Support Officer for the School of Psychology. In this role, I worked independently to provide support in using R to all second- and third-year undergraduate psychology students. Responsibilities included producing online resources (e.g., how to install and load packages, how to run t-tests), facilitating weekly drop-in sessions via zoom, and answering online discussion board questions.

In late 2021, I was employed by the School of Psychology to write and record a series of online modules for first-year psychology students on essay writing and APA formatting and referencing. As part of this role, I also used Canvas Learning Management Software to create the course page for these modules.

  • Position: PhD Candidate
  • Phone: 83130012
  • Email: brittany.child@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Hughes, floor 2
  • Org Unit: School of Psychology
Connect With Me
External Profiles