Current research

My masters degree research focuses on the effect of sleep and pain on primiparous mothers during the initial postpartum period (i.e. 0-6 months). It is common for mothers to report a sharp decline in sleep duration and quality during the initial months and even years after childbirth. However, it is unclear whether such sleep changes would have an impact on their perception of pain in others, in such a way that is comparable to what has been observed in experimental studies of acute, total and partial sleep deprivation in healthy young adults. The extent to which these sleep changes affect their ability to interpret pain from babies’ facial expressions has not been investigated either, even though this will have important implication to their ability to perform their care duties. I am interested in examining the day-to-day association between sleep disturbances and perception of infant pain in new mothers.

Research Interests

• Sleep and pain in new mothers
• The role of effort in distance perception
• The self-tickling effect and the effect of mood on ticklish sensation

Supervisors

Dr Nicole Tang

Dr Hester Duffy

Professor James Tresilian