Team
Darren Hocking, PhD
Lab Director
Dr Hocking is a Senior Research Fellow, ARC DECRA Fellow, and Director of the DNCLab within the School of Psychology and Public Health at La Trobe University. His team and collaborators explore the dynamic interplay between executive functions and motor control across neurodevelopmental disorders and typical development. He is particularly interested in age-dependent changes in multitasking effects on motor control using measures highly sensitive to individual differences and neural correlates of dual-task motor coordination across childhood into adolescence.
This work has been foundational in the development of game-based virtual reality interventions (GaitWay XR™)to improve motor skills in children with autism and developmental disabilities. These tools involve modular animation technology components, governed through machine learning algorithms, for generating immersive, narrative-driven and tailored interactive experiences for motor assessment and intervention.
Anna Atkinson
Research Assistant
Anna completed her BSc(Hons) BEd (Secondary) in 2011, and has worked in child and adult development research since 2012. Anna has a keen interest in genetic disorders, development and learning, and has worked on several projects on attention and motor control in Fragile X, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Williams syndrome and intellectual disability.
Joanne McIntyre, OTR, MS (Psych), BCN
PhD candidate
Joanne moved to the United States after graduating from La Trobe University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy. She later completed a Master’s of Science majoring in Psychology at California Southern University. She is a PhD student within the DNCLab and will be investigating the underlying neurobehavioral mechanisms for the effects of an Integrated Listening and motor training program in children with developmental disabilities.
Jessica Reeve
PhD candidate
Jessica is a combined MPsych/PhD student at Macquarie University and co-supervised by Dr. Hocking and A/Prof Melanie Porter in the DNCLab. Jessica's research is focussed on the effect of early environmental, cognitive and motor constraints on later intellectual development in Willliams syndrome and autism, and impact of early learning experiences on neuropsychological profiles.
Emma Giliberto
Masters of Clinical Neuropsychology/PhD
I am a Master of Clinical Neuropsychology/PhD candidate and provisional psychologist at La Trobe University. My research is investigating cerebral structures and volumetrics in children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1), and their relationships with behavioural and cognitive phenotypes in NF1.
Rachel MacKenzie
Masters of Clinical Neuropsychology/PhD
Rachel is a Master of Clinical Neuropsychology/PhD Candidate under the co-supervision of Dr Hocking and Dr Jonathan Payne (Murdoch Childrens Research Institute). For her research, she will employ novel eye-tracking measures in a cohort of young children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1 to examine correlations with clinical measures of autism symptoms.
Hannah Thomson
Masters of Clinical Neuropsychology/PhD
I am a Master of Clinical Neuropsychology/PhD Candidate and provisional psychologist at La Trobe University, within the DNCLab. I am being supervised by Dr. Darren Hocking and Dr. Izelle Labuschagne (ACU). My research uses fMRI to examine the role of oxytocin in amygdala activation and functional connectivity, in both healthy controls and in individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder.
Alexa Chalmers
Clinical Research Assistant
Alexa is a Master of Clinical Psychology candidate and provisional psychologist at La Trobe University. Prior to joining DNCLab as a Clinical Research Assistant, Alexa had previously worked across numerous research projects investigating children, adolescents and adults with ASD and/or ADHD experiencing anxiety, depression, insomnia and other comorbid conditions.
Hassan Farhat
Research Assistant
Hassan completed his BPsych in 2016 at La Trobe University and Honours degree in 2018 at Monash University. He is currently a research assistant at the DNCLab working on artificial neural networks to capture biomechanical profiles as part of the GaitWay XR™ intervention in children with autism and developmental disabilities.
Kezia Matheson
Research Assistant
Kezia completed her Honours year in 2016 under Dr. Hocking’s supervision. Her research investigated the use of prior knowledge on the integration of perceptual-motor processes in young, typically developing children, and the link between these processes and autistic traits. She is interested in child and developmental and currently a student in the Masters of Educational and Developmental Psychology at Monash University.
Sarah Fritsche
Research Assistant
Sarah completed her Honours at La Trobe University working under the supervision of Dr. Hocking in 2018. She is currently working on several projects on the effects of multitasking on motor control across childhood and adolescence and an exercise intervention to improve executive functions in Down syndrome.
Natalie Mizzi
Research Assistant
Natalie completed her Honours at La Trobe University working under the supervision of Dr. Hocking in 2018. She is currently working on a trial ofthe effects of a 12-week assisted exercise program on the executive functioning of young adults with Down syndrome.