Griffith University

Associate Professor, School of Education and Professional Studies

Contact details for Associate Professor Pat Thomas

Professional page for Associate Professor Pat Thomas

Membership of professional associations

• Member, Australian Psychological Society (APS)
• Member, College of Sport and Exercise Psychologists (APS)
• International Affiliate, American Psychological Association
• Registered Psychologist, State of Queensland
• Registered Teacher, State of Queensland

Research expertise

• Enhancing performance in sport through psychological skills training, particularly cognitive processes such as imagery and attentional focus strategies.
• Assessment of psychological skills in sport using the Test of Performance Strategies.
  
• Individual differences in cognitive preferences.
• Development and rehabilitation of movement skills through imagery training and virtual environments.

Current teaching areas

• A/Prof Thomas teaches in the areas of educational psychology and research methods, and is currently convening and teaching an undergraduate course in sport psychology.
• He also supervises Honours and PhD research projects in sport and performance psychology.
  

Publications

• Wilson, P.H., Duckworth, J., Thomas, P.R., Shum, D., & Williams, G. (in press)   Upper-limb virtual rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury: A within-group evaluation of the Elements system. Brain Injury.
• Vast, R., Young, R., & Thomas, P. R.  (2011).  Emotion and automaticity: Impact of positive and negative emotions on novice and experienced performance of a sensorimotor skill. International Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 9, 227-237.
• Neumann, D.L., & Thomas, P.R. (2011). Cardiac and respiratory activity and golf putting performance under attentional focus instructions. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 12, 451-459.
• Mumford, N., Duckworth, J., Thomas, P. R., Shum, D., Williams, G., & Wilson, P. H. (2010). Upper limb virtual rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury: Initial evaluation of the Elements system. Brain Injury, 24, 780-791.
• Thomas, P. R., & McKay, J. B. (2010).  Cognitive styles and instructional design in university learning. Learning and Individual Differences, 20, 197-202.
• Vast, R., Young, R., & Thomas, P. R. (2010).  Emotions in sport: Perceived effects on attention, concentration, and performance. Australian Psychologist, 45, 132-140.
• Hardy, L., Roberts, R., Thomas, P. R., & Murphy, S. M. (2010).  Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS): Instrument refinement using confirmatory factor analysis. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 11, 27-35.
• Neumann, D. L., & Thomas, P.R.  (2009). The relationship between skill level and patterns in cardiac and respiratory activity during golf putting. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 72, 276-282.
  
• Neumann, D.L. & Thomas, P.R. (2008). A camera-based scoring system for evaluating performance accuracy during a golf putting task. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 892-897.
  
• Williams, J., Thomas, P.R., Maruff, P. & Wilson, P.H. (2008). The link between motor impairment level and motor imagery ability in children with developmental coordination disorder. Human Movement Science, 27, 270-285.
  

Current/Recent research grants

• Wilson, P.H., Shum, D.H., & Thomas, P.R. (2011-2014). Resonance: A digital media art work for cooperative group interaction in the rehabilitation of acquired brain injury. Australian Research Council Linkage Project.
• Thomas, P.R., Neumann, D.L., & Hooper, S.L. (2006-2010). Optimising performance under pressure: Testing and developing athletes’ attentional focus strategies. Australian Research Council Linkage Project.
• Wilson, P.H., Shum, D.H., & Thomas, P.R.  (2005-2009). Elements: A virtual-reality augmented workspace for movement rehabilitation of traumatic brain injury patients. Australian Research Council Linkage Project.