Daniel Shepherd

Auckland University of Technology | AUT · Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences

Two adaptations of the Single-Interval Adjust-Matrix Yes-No (SIAM-YN) task, designed to increase the efficiency of absolute threshold estimation, are described. The first, the SIAM Twin Track (SIAM-TT) task, consists of two interleaved tracks of the standard SIAM-YN that are run in the same trial with a single response. The second new task modifies...

Music medicine may allow individuals with sub-clinical anxiety levels to self-medicate when and where they choose. The current study used subjective and objective anxiety measures to compare music’s ability to change emotional states. Subjective measures included ratings of a song’s pleasantness, arousal, dominance, and likability, as well as state...

Abstract Objective: Demand for children’s mental health services has increased in New Zealand, yet little is known of young children’s experience of psychological difficulties and treatment. This study investigated psychological symptoms and treatment experiences among primary-aged children. Method: An online survey of parents assessed children’s a...

Objective: Demand for children’s mental health services has increased in New Zealand, yet little is known of young children’s experience of psychological difficulties and treatment. This study investigated psychological symptoms and treatment experiences among primary-aged children.Method: An online survey of parents assessed children’s anxiety, de...

Objective Alterations in autonomic function are evident in some chronic pain conditions but have not been thoroughly examined in people with osteoarthritis (OA). The study aimed to examine resting autonomic nervous system (ANS) function in people with knee OA, and the response of the autonomic and nociceptive systems to acute stress. Methods A pre...

Aims: To describe patterns of multiple symptom illness (MSI) in New Zealand military veterans, defined as clusters of "medically unexplained" symptoms not fitting within a specific medical diagnosis, and to investigate the relationship with exposure to traumatic events. Methods: We designed an online cross-sectional survey. The participants of i...

Background: Demand for donor gametes in New Zealand significantly outweighs the number of willing donors. Payment for donation has been suggested as a viable solution to increase the supply and attract more donors in acknowledging the time, effort and inconvenience associated with donation. Aims: Internationally, university students are a common...

Stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms can be reduced by listening to music, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To address this gap, we measured brain connectivity while participants listened to songs of different genres: ambient, pop, and metal. Additionally, affective ratings were obtained while participants (n = 30) listened to the...

The relationship between transport noise and health outcomes is complex, in part because of the large number of factors involved as well as the range of health impacts, both direct and indirect. To enable the reader to come to grips with the complexity, we have divided the health outcomes into groups: those that are more directly linked to transpor...

Objectives: An acute bout of exercise typically leads to short term exercise induced hypoalgesia (EIH), but this response is more variable in many chronic pain populations, including knee osteoarthritis (OA) and fibromyalgia (FM). There is evidence of autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction in some chronic pain populations that may contribute t...

Attitudes towards and concerns about recognition and payment options for donation in New Zealand and Australia Commercial inducement for the provision of gametes is prohibited in New Zealand and Australia. This has been argued to limit access to donor gametes and contribute to the pursuit of potentially unregulated cross-border reproductive care by...

Sounds elicit emotional responses that can influence the perception of food. However, the effects of sounds upon the perception of emotional and non-emotional foods have yet to be fully elucidated. The present study was designed to investigate how pleasant and unpleasant sounds influenced both perception and emotion responses during the consumption...

Background A higher proportion of people in prison have a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) than the general population. However, little is known about potentially related persistent symptoms in this population. Aims To compare symptom reporting in men with and without a history of TBI following admission to a correctional facility. Methods...

The current study was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data collected in New Zealand. Parents (n = 291) of an autistic child completed an online survey that included temporal/demographic questions relating to the parent and child, and parent ratings of the child’s core ASD symptoms, their parenting stress, and psychological well-being. Child...

Background: Noise sensitivity moderates the association between environmental noise exposure and annoyance and health outcomes. Methods: In normally hearing adults, we measured noise sensitivity in three ways: using the noise sensitivity questionnaire, a 3-point self-rating, and the loudness discomfort level (LDL; mean reported discomfort level...

Auditory cues, such as real-world sounds or music, influence how we perceive food. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of negatively and positively valenced mixtures of musical and non-musical sounds on the affective states of participants and their perception of chocolate ice cream. Consuming ice cream while listenin...

Objective To identify factors associated with better or poorer self-reported health status in New Zealand military Veterans. Design A cross-sectional survey. Participants The participants of interest were the 3874 currently serving Veterans who had been deployed to a conflict zone, but all Veterans were eligible to participate. Study variables T...

The objectives of the current study were to obtain four physiological measures sensitive to stress and compare the nature of their decline after a stress task while listening to different sounds. Particular focus was placed on examining the ability of the song “Weightless”, which has been heralded as “the most relaxing song in the world,” to reduce...

Sensory scientists are commonly tasked with determining whether consumers will be able to detect changes in product formulations or ingredients. To this end, sensory panels are formed and discrimination tasks employed, of which numerous types exist. This research compares the performance of three discrimination tasks: the traditional triangle task...

Aim Suicide is a major public health concern worldwide. The present study explores the risk factors for suicide ideation and suicide attempt planning by analyzing anonymized data collected by a New Zealand telephone helpline. Method A nation-wide helpline, Lifeline Aoteroa, provided data from distressed callers obtained from May 2017 to April 2018...

Airflow through the left-and-right nostrils is said to be entrained by an endogenous nasal cycle paced by both poles of the hypothalamus. Yogic practices suggest, and scientific evidence demonstrates, that right-nostril breathing is involved with relatively higher sympathetic activity (arousal states), while left-nostril breathing is associated wit...

Universal developmental surveillance is considered best practice for early identification of autism. We analysed data from 175 New Zealand Well-Child/Tamariki Ora nurses who attended a 1-day training in developmental surveillance for autism using the social attention and communication surveillance-revised (SACS-R) tool. We used a survey to measure...

Background Noise sensitivity (NS) following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is common impacts functioning and outcomes. Recent research suggests psychological factors may have a significant role in the development of NS after mTBI. Psychological interventions have been advocated for to reduce this experience. To be effective, these interventions...

Objectives: A body of research is clarifying the complexity of the effects of online gaming on the lives of gamers. We explored self-reported negative emotional states, satisfaction with life, and relationship satisfaction in a sample of young adults. Methods: We recruited 165 student participants (70.9% female; Mage = 24.24, SD = 6.15) who complet...

Background: For many young people, exposure to music from personal audio system use may represent a significant component of daily noise dose. Moreover, there is increasing concern for the hearing of those who listen at high volumes. The purpose of this study was to determine the noise levels experienced on commuter buses, and to investigate how t...

Background and purpose: Binaural beats are seen as a new type of 'digital-drug'. The aim of this study was to determine if binaural beats could facilitate physiological recovery from a mental stressor. Materials and methods: 92 adults were exposed five times each to a 2-min mental stressor and a subsequent 4-min rest period containing silence or...

New Zealand and Australia are countries which currently prohibit donor payment and require open-identity forms of donation. This study explored the concerns of fertility stakeholders regarding payment which would constitute financial reward for gamete donation, and factors predicting such concerns. A total of 434 participants from across New Zealan...

Mild Traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is defined as TBI with loss of consciousness for 30 minutes-or-less, coinciding with a disoriented state lasting for less than 24 hours. The perseverance of mTBI-related symptoms is termed as post-concussion syndrome (PCS). One of the commonly listed symptoms of PCS is noise sensitivity (NS). The aim of this study...

Recent research has linked the ability to identify odours to parts of the brain that, when impaired, are associated with mental illness or disease. The link between impaired odour perception and some psychological disorders has led to the suggestion that standardised assessments probing smell be routinely adopted in the clinical environment. Odour...

The soundscape is unique to each person. It depends on their perception of the sound environment in combination with the traits and states of the person, their memories, and other sensory inputs. In this research, we collected soundscape data from people in large natural environments and combined them with earlier data from city streets to create a...

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to identify predictors of the mental health of parents of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). A convenience sample of 658 parents residing in New Zealand completed an online questionnaire. Participants responded to questions probing parent and child characteristics, child ASD severity (the Autism I...

Previous research indicates the importance of having high levels of attachment with parents in order to realise positive outcomes of psychological and subjective well-being in later-life. Additionally, sibling attachment in childhood may impact future psychological and subjective well-being directly and independently from parental influences. To ou...

There is increasing interest in the socioeconomic determinants of health and well-being. Efforts to date have focused on the associations between measures of social position and objective measures of health. However, health can also be gauged using subjective measures such as health-related quality of life (HRQOL), while other social determinants,...

Objective: To describe changes in the prevalence and clinical correlates of noise sensitivity (NS) in mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) across a 12-month period and to determine whether NS at an early stage of recovery has predictive value for later postconcussive symptoms. Setting: A mixed urban and rural region of New Zealand. Participants:...

The underlying mechanisms by which social support exerts its (typically) positive effects on parental wellbeing are still being investigated in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) context. Parents (n = 674) of a child with ASD responded to questions probing parenting stress, parent psychological health, their child’s ASD symptoms, and the types of s...

Background: Sensitivity to noise, or nuisance sounds that interrupt relaxation and task-related activities, has been shown to vary significantly across individuals. The current study sought to uncover predictors of noise sensitivity, focussing on possible social and cultural determinants, including social position, education, ethnicity, gender, an...

Background Post-traumatic stress (PTS) is prevalent among military personnel. Knowledge of the risk and protective factors associated with PTS in this population may assist with identifying personnel who would benefit from increased or targeted support. Aims To examine factors associated with PTS among New Zealand military personnel. Methods For...

The challenges faced by parents caring for a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can amplify parenting stress, though the impacts of these challenges can be alleviated by social supports. A sample of 674 parent volunteers completed a survey probing the types of social supports currently being used, what function (i.e., tangible, emotional, fi...

Purpose Sensory impairment is a common aftereffect of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, their influence upon treatment outcomes and quality of life has yet to be investigated. This study sought to determine the effects of noise and light sensitivity upon the quality of life of individuals diagnosed with a TBI. Methods A cross-sectional a...

Study question: To what extent do infertility clinic patients, fertility industry professionals and members of the public support different forms of payment and recognition for egg and sperm donation? Summary answer: While participants expressed support for reimbursement of expenses for both egg and sperm donation, payment constituting explicit...

Food scientists and technologists are interested in how sensitive judges and consumers are to changes in product formulations. Numerous approaches to measuring sensitivity have developed at a rapid rate in the last 25 years, however, the evaluation and assessment of sensory tasks is still ongoing. The current study compared the efficiency of four d...

More people working at offices are choosing to eat meals at their desks, making “desktop dining” an increasingly common phenomenon. Previous studies have reported that environmental distractors, such as television viewing, can influence meal intake and subsequent snack intake. However, the impact of stressful mental tasks on eating behavior has rec...

Listening to specific soundscapes can influence multisensory flavour perception. In the present study, changes in people's perception of the flavour of ice-cream were tracked over time as they listened to a café soundscape, and when this soundscape was overlaid with either bird, machine, or forest soundscapes. In addition, emotions and electrophysi...

Objectives To evaluate a test of olfactory perception that uses freeze‐dried stimuli developed to rapidly release aromas capable of migrating to the olfactory mucosa retronasally. Design Validation study. Setting Psychology and Chemistry Departments. Participants Firstly, 15 participants provided data for psychometric functions. Secondly, 70 par...

The eating context influences eating behaviour as well as the hedonic response to food. This study investigated temporal changes in the perceived flavour of chocolate ice cream when consumed in a laboratory, café, university study area, and a city bus stop, and further examined how emotion and electrophysiological measures were influenced by these...

Primary objective: The impact of noise sensitivity (NS) on the daily functioning of people who have experienced a traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is an understudied area, particularly following mTBI. The primary objective of this cross-sectional study was to investigate clinical markers of NS in a sample of New Zealand adults following mTBI. Research...

Recently, it has been shown that various auditory stimuli modulate flavour perception. The present study attempts to understand the effects of environmental sounds (park, food court, fast food restaurant, cafe, and bar sounds) on the perception of chocolate gelato (specifically, sweet, bitter, milky, creamy, cocoa, roasted, and vanilla notes) using...

Annoyance to unwanted sound differs across individuals, though why noise sensitive individuals are more reactive to noise while others are more resilient remains unanswered. The Information Processing Hypothesis posits that noise sensitive individuals are vulnerable to higher-order auditory processing deficits. The aim of this study was to test the...

Exploring our understanding of soundscapes to understand why and how sound impacts people is important. The aim of this study was to develop a short quantitative questionnaire that would use terms generated by creative writers to assess people’s experiences of a soundscape. This process may provide different items for the questionnaire and thus, po...

Soundscape questionnaire.

Background: Caring for a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be stressful and subsequently affect parents’ ability to manage their child's symptoms. In this research, we explore the effects of perceived levels of support on parents’ care-related stress and on ASD symptoms. Method: Participants (n = 585) completed an online survey which in...

Introduction The aim of the study was to determine whether those who are noise sensitive are more adversely affected by airport noise than those who are not noise sensitive. Participants and Methods One area was very close to Wellington International Airport and the other was distant from the airport and any other major sources of noise such as mo...

Research into the influence of auditory cues upon food perception has increased in the past decade. Mechanisms evoked to explain crossmodal interactions between the auditory and gustatory senses include attentional, emotional, and affective mediators. In this study, the Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) method was utilised to document the chan...

The pairwise A‐Not A design involves two stimuli presented multiple times in a block of trials: a reference stimulus (A) and a comparison stimulus (B). The combined A‐Not A design employs A and several levels of B in a block of trials. Both designs were compared using ice tea with five levels of sucrose. Six judges were assessed for sensitivity usi...

Noise sensitivity (NS) is currently well described but its etiology has not been sufficiently explained. Noise sensitive individuals are more likely to attend to sound and evaluate it negatively, perceive it as annoying, have stronger emotional reactions to sound and, greater difficulty habituating to sounds. NS describes a vulnerability to negativ...

This study examined the relationships between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms, care-related activities, and satisfaction with life (SWL) in 184 parents caring for a child with ASD in New Zealand. The relationships between coping styles and SWL were also examined. The parents’ SWL scores indicated they were slightly dissatisfied with their l...

Understanding why parents choose some interventions but not others for their child with autism is important for a number of reasons. Estimating the proportion of evidence-based interventions engaged, identifying the agencies influencing parental decisions, and elucidating the barriers or reasons leading to intervention rejection or discontinuation...

Parenting a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be stressful. Understanding parent’s perceptions of their stress and their child’s ASD-related symptoms is important for both the well-being of parent and child and for other reasons, such as intervention adherence and diagnostic accuracy. We report parent (N = 570) ratings of both their ASD...

Background Interventions for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are typically evaluated on the basis of symptom-focused outcome measures. These measures tend to be clinician rated and derived in clinical studies, whilst broader parental experiences are often neglected. Method Here we report a study of 585 parents of children diagnosed with ASD, focus...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe risk and protective factors for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced over a 1.5-year period among both frontline and “non-traditional” responders to the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach A longitudinal survey administered t...

Background and Objectives: Parenting a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is challenging and can result in elevated levels of parenting stress. This study investigated the relationship between parent-ratings of their child’s ASD symptoms and two conceptually different measures of parenting stress: One specific to the ASD context and the othe...

The scientific study of happiness requires accurate measurement of the construct that satisfies assumptions of parametric statistics and thus allows both researchers and clinicians to make reliable and valid comparisons with the relevant data sources. The 29-item Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) is a widely-used scale for assessment of personal...

Purpose The role of first responders in mitigating the effects of earthquakes is vital. Unlike other disasters, earthquakes are not single events, and exposure to dangerous and trauma-inducing events may be ongoing. Understanding how first responders cope in the face of such conditions is important, for both their own well-being as well as the gene...

Introduction Common brain areas play a role in processing both personality and odor, while personality theory predicts that olfactory performance should vary according to personality traits. The Big Five model of personality is considered a gold standard measure but has yet to be directly applied in investigations linking personality and olfactory...

This exploratory study assessed the relationships between autism spectrum disorder symptoms, caregiver stress and intervention helpfulness, using parent ( n = 182) ratings. Advocacy and intervention-related tasks were rated more stressful than support tasks (e.g. toileting, mealtimes), indicating that advocacy is emerging as a major caregiver task...

Discrimination tests are used in food companies to quantify small differences between products. Within the diversity of methods available, some are quicker to conduct, whereas others are more sensitive or statistically powerful. One class of methods includes the reminder tasks in which the reference product is given before tasting the actual test s...

Emotional labour among fieldworkers (n=6) at a community mental health organisation was explored using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Participants were found to regulate their emotions both in terms of experience and display. Emotions were regulated through 'deep acting' to enhance the internal experience of empathy and other pos...

An article published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health indicated that, far from degrading health, noise from wind turbines may actually be associated with positive health outcomes. Such a finding is counter to that reported elsewhere for general and wind turbine noise. This Commentary sets out to explore alter...

Background Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may respond to environmental stimuli more intensely and less conventionally than typical peers. Research has generally focused on sensory sensitivity broadly, rather than individual modalities. Thus, experiences of noise sensitivity (NS) have not been specifically documented in detail. This...

Objective: The New Zealand Ministry of Health responded to community concern about dioxin exposure during on-site remediation of a pesticide-contaminated rural area by commissioning this exposed-referent study of serum dioxins and health in local residents. Methods: All 200 residents were eligible, with age and sex matching to demographically co...

The health-related quality of life of people in two socioeconomically matched areas of Wellington city (New Zealand) was assessed in 2012 and 2015 using the World Health Organisation instrument (WHOQoL-Bref). One area was very close to Wellington International Airport and the other was distant from the airport and other major sources of noise such...

Noise sensitivity (NS) may be subsumed by the environmental intolerance approach, characterized by the attribution of several multisystem symptoms to specific environmental exposures. NS increases the reactivity to noise and predicts noise annoyance. In multiple chemical sensitivity, an impairment in smell cognitive abilities with increased smell h...

The health-related quality of life of people in two socioeconomically matched areas of Wellington city (New Zealand) was assessed in 2012 and 2015 using the World Health Organisation instrument (WHOQOL-Bref). One area was very close to Wellington International Airport and the other was distant from the airport and other major sources of noise such...

Air pollution originating from road traffic is a known risk factor of respiratory and cardiovascular disease (both in terms of chronic and acute effects). While adverse effects on cardiovascular health have also been linked with noise (after controlling for air pollution), noise exposure has been commonly linked to sleep impairment and negative emo...

Family caregivers are a key component of mental health services in New Zealand and internationally. Despite their key role, there has been relatively little research documenting their experiences, and the impacts of caregiving on them. This study reports on the experiences of parents caregiving for their adult children who have schizophrenia. Six p...

Background: Noise sensitivity describes an individual's general reactivity to sound. It is a common trait found in many clinical populations and describes approximately 20% of the general population. Little is known about its underlying mechanisms, however. Objectives: Here we present findings from three studies designed to expose differences in...

Unrelated auditory cues may alter gustatory and hedonic perceptions to food, but it is unclear whether similar effects will be observed with congruent eating-environment sounds. This is the first experimental work to demonstrate how different eating-environment sounds, varying in quality, may influence pleasantness of food samples. In this study, t...

Online activity could serve in the future as behavioral markers of emotional states for computer systems (i.e., affective computing). Hence, this study considered relationships between self-reported stimulant use and online study patterns. Sixty-two undergraduate psychology students estimated their daily caffeine use, and this was related to study...

Men with prostate cancer experience many side effects and symptoms that may be improved by a physically active lifestyle. It was hypothesized that older men with prostate cancer who were physically active would report significantly higher levels of quality of life (QOL) as assessed by the WHOQOL-BREF and the WHOQOL-OLD. Of the 348 prostate cancer s...

The clinical literature has not given sufficient attention to the phenomenology of noise sensitivity (NS) as experienced by those with schizophrenia, focusing instead on electrophysiological measurements. This study sought to explore and document the experiences of NS in people with schizophrenia. Seven participants with a diagnosis of schizophreni...

The dominant taste sensations of three different types of chocolate gelati (milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and bittersweet chocolate) were determined using forty five trained panellists exposed to a silent reference condition and three music samples differing in hedonic ratings. The temporal dominance of sensations (TDS) method was used to measure...

This study investigated whether samples of pleasant, neutral and unpleasant music can impact food perception. To this end, the pleasantness of three different types of chocolate gelati (milk chocolate, dark chocolate and bittersweet chocolate) was determined using 50 participants exposed to silence (the reference condition) and three music samples...

Links between some psychological disorders and olfactory deficits are well documented, and screening tests have been developed to exploit these associations. Odors can take one of two routes to the olfactory receptors in the nasal epithelium, the orthonasal or retronasal route. This article discusses the potential use of the retronasal route to ass...

SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY POSITS THAT MEMBERSHIP to social groups serves to enhance and maintain self-esteem. In young people music plays a prominent role in defining social identity, and so a relationship between music preference and self-esteem is expected, but is as yet unconfirmed by the literature. The objective of this study was to further exami...

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between personality and resting heart rate variability (HRV) indices. Healthy volunteers (n=106) completed a 240-item Big Five personality inventory, the state/Trait Anxiety inventory, and a ten minute electrocardiographic recording. Time and frequency domain estimates of HRV were derived fr...

Some studies indicate that noise sensitivity is explained by negative affect, a dispositional tendency to negatively evaluate situations and the self. Individuals high in such traits may report a greater sensitivity to other sensory stimuli, such as smell, bright light and pain. However, research investigating the relationship between noise sensiti...

Sensitivity to unwanted sounds is common in general and clinical populations. Noise sensitivity refers to physiological and psychological internal states of an individual that increase the degree of reactivity to noise in general. The current study investigated the relationship between the Big Five personality dimensions and noise sensitivity using...

All 120 health and safety inspectors employed by the New Zealand regulatory agency had their jobs disestablished during a restructuring process and were required to undergo an assessment process with tight time frames. To report on psychological morbidity during the transition to change. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) questionnair...

The aim was to develop a quantitative questionnaire that could easily be administered to assess people’s perceptions of the current Soundscape. In a preliminary phase, a group of people identifying themselves as good writers were recruited and played recordings of natural, traffic, and human Soundscapes. As these were playing, participants were ask...

Noise remains a potent degrader of health in many contexts, capable of inducing severe annoyance and sleep disturbance. However, quantifying the impact of noise on health involves methods that are neither standardized nor always agreed upon. One issue centers on the conceptualization of health, and whether the WHO's guidelines suggesting that noise...

Noise is an environmental nuisance that has the potential to degrade health and negatively impact the relationship between humans and their environment. The mode of transport effect stipulates that aviation noise is more annoying than either rail or road noise. While sleep disturbance and annoyance are the dominant health consequences of community...

Noise remains a potent degrader of health in many global contexts, capable of inducing severe annoyance and sleep disturbance. An epidemiological study was undertaken to compare noise annoyance and health-related quality of life of individuals residing close to a major international airport or wind turbine complex with those located in demographica...