Dr Ancret Szpak

• Biography/ Background

  I am a Lecturer in the School of Psychology and I am currently coordinating online courses in the Graduate Diploma of Psychology Advanced (GDPA). I also have several research projects funded by the government. My primary area of interest is the application of virtual reality to develop or enhance real-world skills. I have expertise in virtual and augmented reality in healthcare, sports training and cognitive abilities.

   

• Research Funding

  Jul 2023 Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), Augmented Reality to Improve Telemedicine Delivery and Wound Research.

  Sep 2020 Indigenous Australian’s Health Programme (Dept. of Health), Improving telemedicine delivery for Aboriginal people with diabetes-related foot complications using Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR).

  Oct 2020 Augusta Zadow Awards (SafeWorkSA), Testing the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality-Based Training for Forklift Operation Safety Skills among Young People.

  Oct 2020 Channel 7 Children’s Research Foundation, Helping children with intellectual disabilities develop real-world life skills in virtual reality.

  Jul 2020 Road Safety Innovation Fund (Dept. of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications), Testing user experience methods for older vulnerable road users.

• Publications

  Michalski, S. C., Gallomarino, N. C., Szpak, A., May, K. W., Lee, G., Ellison, C. E., & Loetscher, T. (2023). Improving real-world skills in people with intellectual disabilities: An immersive virtual reality intervention. Virtual Reality, 1(12). doi:10.1007/s10055-023-00759-2

  Szpak, A., Richards, A, Michalski, S. C., & Loetscher, T. (2022). Getting the Most out of Virtual Reality: Evaluating Short Breaks to Reduce Cybersickness and Cognitive Aftereffects. In 2022 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), (533-537). IEEE. doi:10.1109/VRW55335.2022.00119

  Michalski, S. C., Szpak, A., Ellison, C., Cornish, R. & Loetscher, T. (2022). Using Virtual Reality to Improve Classroom Behaviour in People with Down Syndrome: A Within-Subjects Experimental Design. Journal of Medical Internet Research: Serious Games, 10(2), e34373. doi: 10.2196/34373

  Clark, R.A., Szpak, A., Michalski, S. C., & Loetscher, T. (2021). Rest Intervals during Virtual Reality Gaming Augments Standing Postural Sway Disturbance. Sensors, 21(20). doi: 10.3390/s21206817

  Michalski, S.C., Ellison, C., Szpak, A., Loetscher, T. (2021). Vocational training in virtual environments for people with neurodevelopmental disorders: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12: 627301. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.627301

  Szpak, A., Michalski, S. C., & Loetscher, T. (2020). Exergaming with Beat Saber: An Investigation of Virtual Reality Aftereffects. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(e19840), 6817. doi: 10.2196/19840

  Saredakis, D.*, Szpak, A.*, Birckhead, B., Keage, H. A. D., Rizzo, A. "Skip", & Loetscher, T. (2020). Factors Associated with Virtual Reality Sickness in Head-Mounted Displays: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 14. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00096

  Michalski, S. C., Szpak, A., & Loetscher, T. (2019). Using Virtual Environments to Improve Real-World Motor Skills in Sports: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in Psychology,10(21590). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02159

  Szpak, A., Michalski, S. C., Saredakis, D., Chen, C. S., & Loetscher, T. (2019). Beyond Feeling Sick: The Visual and Cognitive Aftereffects of Virtual Reality. IEEE Access, 7, 130883–130892. doi:10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2940073

  Michalski, S. C.*, Szpak, A.*, Saredakis, D., Ross, T. J., Billinghurst, M., & Loetscher, T. (2019). Getting Your Game On: Using Virtual Reality to Improve Real Table Tennis Skills. PLoS ONE, 14(9:e0222351), 1–14. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222351

  Saccone, E.J., Szpak, A., Churches, O. & Nicholls, M. E. R. (2018). Close interpersonal proximity modulates visuomotor processing of object affordances in shared, social space. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 80(1), 54–68. doi:10.3758/s13414-017-1413-7

  Szpak, A., Thomas, N. A., & Nicholls, M. E. R. (2016). Hemispheric asymmetries in perceived depth revealed through a radial line bisection task. Experimental Brain Research, 234(3), 807–813. doi:10.1007/s00221-015-4504-5

  Szpak, A., Loetscher, T, Bastian, J., Thomas, N. A., & Nicholls, M. E. R. (2015). Visual asymmetries for relative depth judgments in a three-dimensional space. Brain and Cognition, 99, 128–134. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2015.08.005

  Szpak, A., Nicholls, M. E. R., Thomas, N. A., Laham, S., & Loetscher, T. (2015).“No man is an island”: Effects of social proximity on spatial attention. Cognitive Neuroscience, 7(1–4), 45–54. doi:10.1080/17588928.2015.1048677

  Szpak, A., Loetscher, T., Churches, O., Thomas, N. A., Spence, C. J., & Nicholls, M. E. R. (2015). Keeping your distance: attentional withdrawal in individuals who show physiological signs of social discomfort. Neuropsychologia, 70, 462–467. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.10.008

Entry last updated: Tuesday, 21 Jan 2025

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