Melanie Takarangi
Biographic Data
| ID | 2488367 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melanie Takarangi |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melanie |
| FAMILY NAME | Takarangi |
| SIGNATURE | TAKARANGI M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Flinders University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6006-8045 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 29 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The role of decision making in the negative impact of content moderation
Content moderators view hundreds of negative images daily to remove content that violates social media guidelines (e.g., live suicides, child exploitation). Frequent exposure to such content can lead to depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Therefore, it is important to investigate factors that exacerbate the negative impact of viewing graphic content. Here, we examined whether the types of decisions moderators make (i.e., those…
What is the relationship between stress and prospective memory in everyday environments
Prospective memory (PM) – remembering to perform future intentions (Rummel et al., 2023, Prospective memories in the wild: Predicting memory for intentions in natural environments. Memory & Cognition, 51(5), 1061–1075. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-022-01379-y) – is essential for maintaining daily functioning and fulfilling important obligations (e.g., taking medication). Yet, various factors can lead to PM failures. Stress – the body’s physiolo…
Evaluating image modification as a harm reduction approach in content moderation
Content moderators are repeatedly exposed to disturbing material, leaving them susceptible to harm, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Currently, social media platforms such as Facebook allow moderators to modify (i.e., blur or greyscale) the visual features of images to mitigate the potential impact of the material. However, there is little empirical basis for this intervention. Therefore, we examined whether viewing distu…
I think I will forget
262) completed 16 researcher-dictated PM tasks over four days and reported subjective PM, PTSD symptoms, and metacognitive beliefs (i.e. beliefs about own cognitive processes, including confidence in memory ability). We examined the relationship between PM and PTSD symptoms and whether metacognitive beliefs might partially explain this relationship. PM performance was unrelated to PTSD symptom severity but was weakly correlated with metacognitive…
Online consent risk-warnings about negative psychological side-effects do not change participant expectations or cause negative psychological side-effects
200) to encounter a risk-warning (e.g. "you may experience distress") or no warning during informed consent procedures, prior to an online trauma analogue paradigm. Opposing our predictions-and signalling good news for Institutional Review Boards and researchers-we found no evidence that warned participants reported more negative expectancies or experienced psychological nocebo effects (e.g. distress). Because risk-warnings are used as a harm mit…
Guns and philosophy
The differential fading of disgust and fear reactions to a personal trauma in a non-clinical population
Persistent negative emotions are a key post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptom. Disgust occurs during/following traumatic events and predicts PTS symptoms, but is overlooked relative to other negative emotions like fear. Here, we investigate how trauma-related disgust fades—or persists—in memory (i.e., a person's recollection of how they felt during a traumatic event vs. their current feelings), and over time, relative to fear. In a cross-sectional (…
Adding brief content-related information to sensitive-content screens does not exacerbate screen- or image-related distress
the content depicts
People experience similar intrusions about past and future autobiographical negative experiences
We know much about people’s problematic reactions—such as distressing intrusions—to negative, stressful, or traumatic past events. But emerging evidence suggests people react similarly to negative and potentially-traumatic future events. Given similar processes underlie remembering the past and imagining the future more generally, we wondered how similar involuntary memories, or intrusions, are for experienced vs. anticipated events. We focused p…
Does enhanced memory of disgust vs. fear images extend to involuntary memory
distinct cognitive effects
Juror Perceptions of Bystander and Victim Intoxication by Different Substances
This study examined the effects of bystander or victim intoxication during a crime on juror perceptions and decision-making. Mock jurors ( N = 261) read testimony from a bystander or victim to an assault, who mentioned that they had consumed alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines, or no substances prior to the crime. Participants delivered a verdict, rated the defendant’s guilt, and rated the bystander/victim on their honesty, credibility, and cognitive…
The effect of image category and incidental arousal on boundary restriction
People's memory for scenes has consequences, including for eyewitness testimony. Negative scenes may lead to a particular memory error, where narrowed scene boundaries lead people to recall being closer to a scene than they were. But boundary restriction-including attenuation of the opposite phenomenon boundary extension-has been difficult to replicate, perhaps because heightened arousal accompanying negative scenes, rather than negative valence …
The Nature of Shared Traumatic Experiences
Across two studies, we investigated when, how, and how often people share traumatic events ( N = 1008). In Study 1, most participants (78.5%) perceived their most stressful/traumatic event as shared primarily due to knowing others were present during the event (physical sharing), knowing/believing others had experienced or could experience a similar event (relational sharing), discussing the event with others (verbal sharing), or having the same …
Weaving the threads of identity
Research shows that higher education can help veterans build a new sense of identity, purpose and belonging after leaving the military. There are critical gaps, however, in our understanding of student veterans in the Australian context. This article aims to map the experiences of Australian veterans across the student life cycle to improve our understanding of this unique group. We systematically address the higher education stages of pre-access…
Mind the Information-Gap
Instagram’s sensitive-content screens seek to minimize engagement with negative content by blurring sensitive images and providing a warning. However, the very design of sensitive-content screens may elicit uncertainty/curiosity and prompt information-seeking behaviors: congruent with the information-gap hypothesis. To test this idea experimentally, we presented participants with screened negative images accompanied by a brief, detailed, or no co…
Emotional stimuli similarly disrupt attention in both visual fields
People often need to filter relevant from irrelevant information. Irrelevant emotional distractors interrupt this process. But does the degree to which emotional distractors disrupt attention depend on which visual field they appear in? We thought it might for two reasons: (1) people pay slightly more attention to the left than the right visual field, and (2) some research suggests the right-hemisphere (which, in early visual processing, receives…
A nervous wait
of viewing content. In Study 1, participants viewed positive and neutral images, and screens (with an option to view the negative images beneath) for a 5-minute period. In Study 2, half the participants saw a grey mask in place of the typical sensitive-content screen. In addition, each image appeared for a fixed period (5 s) and participants had no option to uncover it. Study 3 was like Study 2 except half the participants saw negative images pre…
Staying the Course
The transition from military to civilian life is often challenging for veterans. International research shows higher education to be an important pathway that can help veterans navigate this change and improve their psycho-social wellbeing and career prospects. In this article, we examine how student veterans are being recognised and supported in the Australian higher education context. Our research finds the range of governmental and institution…
Assessing Student Veterans’ Academic Outcomes and Wellbeing
Higher education provides a pathway for military veterans to transition to an engaged civilian life. Veterans can be model students because of their diverse experiences, resilience, and discipline. Yet some veterans are simultaneously “at-risk”; most are nontraditional students and more likely than the general population to face mental/physical health issues. We propose wellbeing might protect student veterans from academic difficulties ensuring …
Why the Covid-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor
The COVID-19 pandemic does not fit into prevailing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) models, or diagnostic criteria, yet emerging research shows traumatic stress symptoms as a result of this ongoing global stressor. Current pathogenic event models focus on past, and largely direct, trauma exposure to certain kinds of life-threatening events. Yet, traumatic stress reactions to future, indirect trauma exposure, and non-Criterion A events exist,…
Danger! Negative memories ahead
to come to mind. Warnings supposedly prevent or minimise this distress. But, do warnings really have this effect? To simulate the experience described above, here, we examined whether warning participants-by telling them that recalling a negative event would be distressing-would change characteristics associated with the immediate and delayed recall of a negative event (such as phenomenology e.g., vividness, sense of reliving), compared to partic…
Does emotional or repeated misinformation increase memory distortion for a trauma analogue event
Mechanisms underlying memory enhancement for disgust over fear
Disgust is remembered better than fear, despite both emotions being highly negative and arousing. But the mechanisms underlying this effect are not well-understood. Therefore, we compared two proposed mechanisms underlying superior memory for disgust. According to the memory consolidation mechanism, it is harder (but crucial) to remember potentially contaminating vs. threatening stimuli. Hence, disgust elicits additional memory consolidation proc…
Lateralized processing of emotional images
The right hemisphere plays a critical role in visuospatial attention and emotional perception, particularly for negative emotions. Therefore, preferential processing of emotional stimuli by the right, compared to the left, hemisphere could enhance our memory for emotional stimuli. We examined whether recognition memory for negative versus neutral IAPS images (Experiment 1) and negative versus positive IAPS and NAPS images (Experiment 2) differed …
Visuospatial asymmetries and emotional valence influence mental time travel
Spatial information is tightly intertwined with temporal and valence-based information. Namely, "past" is represented on the left, and "future" on the right, along a horizontal mental timeline. Similarly, right is associated with positive, whereas left is negative. We developed a novel task to examine the effects of emotional valence and temporal distance on mental representations of time. We compared positivity biases, where positive events are …
Does enhanced memory of disgust vs. fear images extend to involuntary memory
distinct cognitive effects
Psychological Science, Victim Advocates, and the Problem of Recovered Memories
Defined in hazy terms by Freud and bereft of attention for a century afterwards, the concept of repression suddenly gained public prominence in the 1980s, at the same time that child sexual abuse (CSA) was finally achieving widespread recognition as an important societal problem. However, despite its public and therapeutic popularity, a convincing scientific case still has not been made for the existence of repression. Recent research establishes…
Psychological Science, Victim Advocates, and the Problem of Recovered Memories
Defined in hazy terms by Freud and bereft of attention for a century afterwards, the concept of repression suddenly gained public prominence in the 1980s, at the same time that child sexual abuse (CSA) was finally achieving widespread recognition as an important societal problem. However, despite its public and therapeutic popularity, a convincing scientific case still has not been made for the existence of repression. Recent research establishes…
Self-report may underestimate trauma intrusions
Meta-awareness and the involuntary memory spectrum
In their commentary, Meyer, Otgaar, and Smeets (2015) raise several important issues about the definitions, characteristics and applications of various involuntary cognitive phenomena. Here we respond to the comments of Meyer et al. in ways that we hope will advance understanding of these issues, and inform future research. In particular, we have focused on the characteristics of involuntary phenomena-particularly in relation to meta-awareness-an…
Trauma-related versus positive involuntary thoughts with and without meta-awareness
Visuospatial asymmetries and emotional valence influence mental time travel
Spatial information is tightly intertwined with temporal and valence-based information. Namely, "past" is represented on the left, and "future" on the right, along a horizontal mental timeline. Similarly, right is associated with positive, whereas left is negative. We developed a novel task to examine the effects of emotional valence and temporal distance on mental representations of time. We compared positivity biases, where positive events are …
Lateralized processing of emotional images
The right hemisphere plays a critical role in visuospatial attention and emotional perception, particularly for negative emotions. Therefore, preferential processing of emotional stimuli by the right, compared to the left, hemisphere could enhance our memory for emotional stimuli. We examined whether recognition memory for negative versus neutral IAPS images (Experiment 1) and negative versus positive IAPS and NAPS images (Experiment 2) differed …
Why the Covid-19 pandemic is a traumatic stressor
The COVID-19 pandemic does not fit into prevailing Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) models, or diagnostic criteria, yet emerging research shows traumatic stress symptoms as a result of this ongoing global stressor. Current pathogenic event models focus on past, and largely direct, trauma exposure to certain kinds of life-threatening events. Yet, traumatic stress reactions to future, indirect trauma exposure, and non-Criterion A events exist,…
Danger! Negative memories ahead
to come to mind. Warnings supposedly prevent or minimise this distress. But, do warnings really have this effect? To simulate the experience described above, here, we examined whether warning participants-by telling them that recalling a negative event would be distressing-would change characteristics associated with the immediate and delayed recall of a negative event (such as phenomenology e.g., vividness, sense of reliving), compared to partic…
Does emotional or repeated misinformation increase memory distortion for a trauma analogue event
Mechanisms underlying memory enhancement for disgust over fear
Disgust is remembered better than fear, despite both emotions being highly negative and arousing. But the mechanisms underlying this effect are not well-understood. Therefore, we compared two proposed mechanisms underlying superior memory for disgust. According to the memory consolidation mechanism, it is harder (but crucial) to remember potentially contaminating vs. threatening stimuli. Hence, disgust elicits additional memory consolidation proc…
Staying the Course
The transition from military to civilian life is often challenging for veterans. International research shows higher education to be an important pathway that can help veterans navigate this change and improve their psycho-social wellbeing and career prospects. In this article, we examine how student veterans are being recognised and supported in the Australian higher education context. Our research finds the range of governmental and institution…
Assessing Student Veterans’ Academic Outcomes and Wellbeing
Higher education provides a pathway for military veterans to transition to an engaged civilian life. Veterans can be model students because of their diverse experiences, resilience, and discipline. Yet some veterans are simultaneously “at-risk”; most are nontraditional students and more likely than the general population to face mental/physical health issues. We propose wellbeing might protect student veterans from academic difficulties ensuring …
Mind the Information-Gap
Instagram’s sensitive-content screens seek to minimize engagement with negative content by blurring sensitive images and providing a warning. However, the very design of sensitive-content screens may elicit uncertainty/curiosity and prompt information-seeking behaviors: congruent with the information-gap hypothesis. To test this idea experimentally, we presented participants with screened negative images accompanied by a brief, detailed, or no co…
Emotional stimuli similarly disrupt attention in both visual fields
People often need to filter relevant from irrelevant information. Irrelevant emotional distractors interrupt this process. But does the degree to which emotional distractors disrupt attention depend on which visual field they appear in? We thought it might for two reasons: (1) people pay slightly more attention to the left than the right visual field, and (2) some research suggests the right-hemisphere (which, in early visual processing, receives…
A nervous wait
of viewing content. In Study 1, participants viewed positive and neutral images, and screens (with an option to view the negative images beneath) for a 5-minute period. In Study 2, half the participants saw a grey mask in place of the typical sensitive-content screen. In addition, each image appeared for a fixed period (5 s) and participants had no option to uncover it. Study 3 was like Study 2 except half the participants saw negative images pre…
Juror Perceptions of Bystander and Victim Intoxication by Different Substances
This study examined the effects of bystander or victim intoxication during a crime on juror perceptions and decision-making. Mock jurors ( N = 261) read testimony from a bystander or victim to an assault, who mentioned that they had consumed alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines, or no substances prior to the crime. Participants delivered a verdict, rated the defendant’s guilt, and rated the bystander/victim on their honesty, credibility, and cognitive…
The effect of image category and incidental arousal on boundary restriction
People's memory for scenes has consequences, including for eyewitness testimony. Negative scenes may lead to a particular memory error, where narrowed scene boundaries lead people to recall being closer to a scene than they were. But boundary restriction-including attenuation of the opposite phenomenon boundary extension-has been difficult to replicate, perhaps because heightened arousal accompanying negative scenes, rather than negative valence …
The Nature of Shared Traumatic Experiences
Across two studies, we investigated when, how, and how often people share traumatic events ( N = 1008). In Study 1, most participants (78.5%) perceived their most stressful/traumatic event as shared primarily due to knowing others were present during the event (physical sharing), knowing/believing others had experienced or could experience a similar event (relational sharing), discussing the event with others (verbal sharing), or having the same …
Weaving the threads of identity
Research shows that higher education can help veterans build a new sense of identity, purpose and belonging after leaving the military. There are critical gaps, however, in our understanding of student veterans in the Australian context. This article aims to map the experiences of Australian veterans across the student life cycle to improve our understanding of this unique group. We systematically address the higher education stages of pre-access…
Guns and philosophy
The differential fading of disgust and fear reactions to a personal trauma in a non-clinical population
Persistent negative emotions are a key post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptom. Disgust occurs during/following traumatic events and predicts PTS symptoms, but is overlooked relative to other negative emotions like fear. Here, we investigate how trauma-related disgust fades—or persists—in memory (i.e., a person's recollection of how they felt during a traumatic event vs. their current feelings), and over time, relative to fear. In a cross-sectional (…
Adding brief content-related information to sensitive-content screens does not exacerbate screen- or image-related distress
the content depicts
People experience similar intrusions about past and future autobiographical negative experiences
We know much about people’s problematic reactions—such as distressing intrusions—to negative, stressful, or traumatic past events. But emerging evidence suggests people react similarly to negative and potentially-traumatic future events. Given similar processes underlie remembering the past and imagining the future more generally, we wondered how similar involuntary memories, or intrusions, are for experienced vs. anticipated events. We focused p…
Does enhanced memory of disgust vs. fear images extend to involuntary memory
distinct cognitive effects
The role of decision making in the negative impact of content moderation
Content moderators view hundreds of negative images daily to remove content that violates social media guidelines (e.g., live suicides, child exploitation). Frequent exposure to such content can lead to depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Therefore, it is important to investigate factors that exacerbate the negative impact of viewing graphic content. Here, we examined whether the types of decisions moderators make (i.e., those…
Psychology (23 works) · Cognitive psychology (13 works) · Social Psychology (13 works) · Medicine (8 works) · Clinical Psychology (7 works) · Memory Processes and Influences (6 works) · Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes (5 works) · Cognition (5 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Neuroscience (5 works)