Learning Lab

Dr Aisling Mulvihill

Research Fellow
Queensland Brain Institute
Affiliate of ARC COE for Children and Families Over the Lifecourse
ARC COE for Children and Families Over the Lifecourse
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Researcher biography

Aisling Mulvihill is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Thorpe Lab at the Queensland Brain Institute. Her background spans frontline paediatric speech pathology practice, a PhD in Developmental Psychology, and postdoctoral research on early years development in both experimental and applied settings

Aisling's research investigates the cognitive and environmental mechanisms that support social-cognitive and self-regulatory development in early childhood, with particular a focus on adult-child interactions. She examines how adult-delivered mental state talk (i.e., talk about desires, thoughts, and emotions) fosters children's social-emotional development, and how children's self-talk supports emerging self-regulation.

Her current work focuses on interactions within Early Childhood Education and Care settings and aims to inform interventions to that promote children's social-cognitive and emotional well-being. Aisling's translational work includes the creation of The Ant Patrol Children's Stories, a series of children's books designed to support children's self-regulation.

Featured projects Duration
Metacognition, Emotion Regulation & High School Transitions

Publications

Books (6)
Book Chapter (1)
Journal Articles (16)
Thesis (1)
Data Collections (4)

Books

Sherlock, Deberea, Mulvihill, Aisling and Lynch, Marc (2013). Name of the game. Brisbane, Australia: MASTER Institute Publications.
Sherlock, Deberea, Mulvihill, Aisling and Lynch, Marc (2013). Pick your moment. Brisbane, Australia: MASTER Institute Publications.
Sherlock, Deberea, Mulvihill, Aisling and Lynch, Marc (2013). Seeing red. Brisbane, Australia: MASTER Institute Publications.
Sherlock, Deberea, Mulvihill, Aisling and Lynch, Marc (2013). Mind on the job. Brisbane, Australia: MASTER Institute publications.
Sherlock, Deberea, Mulvihill, Aisling and Lynch, Marc (2013). Stay in line. Brisbane, Australia: MASTER Institute Publications.
Sherlock, Deberea, Mulvihill, Aisling and Lynch, Marc (2013). Fear factor. Brisbane, Australia: MASTER Institute Publications.

Book Chapter

Sherlock, Deberea and Mulvihill, Aisling (2021). The MASTER™ focus program: a theoretically informed meta-attention intervention for early adolescence. Learning under the lens: applying findings from the science of learning to the classroom. (pp. 125-138) edited by Annemaree Carroll, Ross Cunnington and Annita Nugent. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780429027833-9

Journal Articles

Houen, Sandy, Staton, Sally, Mulvihill, Aisling and Thorpe, Karen (2026). Serve-return-rally-learn: extending the serve and return metaphor in adult–child interactions. Child Development Perspectives, 20 (1) aadaf005, 1-8. doi: 10.1093/cdpers/aadaf005
Wall, Kendall, Mulvihill, Aisling, Matthews, Natasha, Dux, Paul E. and Carroll, Annemaree (2026). Maternal parenting style and self-regulatory private speech content use in preschool children. Journal of Child Language, 53 (1), 218-233. doi: 10.1017/s0305000924000515
Farrell, Callyn, Mulvihill, Aisling, Slaughter, Virginia and Thai, Michael (2025). From dolls to trucks: factors associated with adults' gender‐typing of children's toys. International Journal of Psychology, 61 (1) e70150, e70150. doi: 10.1002/ijop.70150
Farrell, Callyn, Mulvihill, Aisling, Slaughter, Virginia and Thai, Michael (2025). Beyond the toy box: how Australian adults prescribe toys based on child gender expression and assigned sex. Diversity & Inclusion Research, 3 (1) e70045. doi: 10.1002/dvr2.70045
Farrell, Callyn, Mulvihill, Aisling and Slaughter, Virginia (2025). Using a continuous measure of child gender identity to explore mother–child agreement. Social Development, 35 (1) e70036. doi: 10.1111/sode.70036
Farrell, Callyn, Slaughter, Virginia and Mulvihill, Aisling (2025). Participation and Experiences in Extracurricular Activities for Children With Developmental Language Disorder and Their Peers. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 60 (6) e70134, 1-11. doi: 10.1111/1460-6984.70134
Mulvihill, Aisling, Matthews, Natasha, Chidley, Kali, Macmahon, Stephanie, Armitage, Kristy L., Sherlock, Deberea, Dux, Paul E. and Carroll, Annemaree (2025). The meta-attention knowledge questionnaire (MAKQ): a new instrument for investigating meta-attention in a young adolescent sample. Metacognition and Learning, 20 (1) 34, 1-28. doi: 10.1007/s11409-025-09433-1
Farrell, Callyn, Sanderson, Ellen, Mulvihill, Aisling, Thai, Michael and Slaughter, Virginia (2025). Parents' mental state language and child gender: a scoping review of developmental evidence. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 43 (2), 396-417. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12502
Farrell, Callyn, Slaughter, Virginia, McAuliffe, Tomomi and Mulvihill, Aisling (2023). Participation and experiences in extracurricular activities for autistic and neurotypical children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 54 (11), 1-15. doi: 10.1007/s10803-023-06142-z
Cuskelly, Monica, Gilmore, Linda, Rayner, Christopher, Girkin, Fiona, Mulvihill, Aisling and Slaughter, Virginia (2023). The impacts of typically developing siblings on the developmental outcomes of children with disability: a scoping review. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 140 104574, 1-15. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104574
Farrell, Callyn, Slaughter, Virginia, Thai, Michael and Mulvihill, Aisling (2023). How we talk to kids: adults prefer different forms of language for children based on gender expression. Sex Roles, 89 (3-4), 119-134. doi: 10.1007/s11199-023-01393-7
Mulvihill, Aisling, Armstrong, Rebecca, Casey, Charlotte, Redshaw, Jonathan, Scarinci, Nerina and Slaughter, Virginia (2023). Early childhood educators' mental state language and children's theory of mind in the preschool setting. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 41 (3), 227-245. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12449
Kong, Qiuyi, Mulvihill, Aisling, Slaughter, Virginia, Fraser, Harry, Cavanagh-Welch, Bailey, Elwina, Felicia Crysta, Kang, Jie and Ruffman, Ted (2023). Not just quantity but also quality of language: cross-cultural comparisons of maternal mental state talk in New Zealand, Australia, and China. PLOS ONE, 18 (3) e0282480, e0282480. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282480
Mulvihill, Aisling, Matthews, Natasha, Dux, Paul E. and Carroll, Annemaree (2022). Task difficulty and private speech in typically developing and at-risk preschool children. Journal of Child Language, 50 (2) PII S0305000921000945, 1-28. doi: 10.1017/s0305000921000945
Mulvihill, Aisling, Matthews, Natasha, Dux, Paul E. and Carroll, Annemaree (2021). Preschool children’s private speech content and performance on executive functioning and problem-solving tasks. Cognitive Development, 60 101116, 101116. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101116
Mulvihill, Aisling, Carroll, Annemaree, Dux, Paul E. and Matthews, Natasha (2019). Self-directed speech and self-regulation in childhood neurodevelopmental disorders: Current findings and future directions. Development and Psychopathology, 32 (1) PII S0954579418001670, 205-217. doi: 10.1017/s0954579418001670

Thesis

Mulvihill, Aisling (2020). Self-directed speech and self-regulation in typically developing and developmentally at-risk children. PhD Thesis, School of Education, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2020.718

Data Collections

Chidley, Kali, Matthews, Natasha, Ehrhardt, Shane, Mulvihill, Aisling, Wards, Yohan, Armitage, Kristy, Mattingley, Jason, Filmer, Hannah and Dux, Paul (2024). The Meta-Attention Knowledge Questionnaire: Validation in an Adult Sample. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.48610/ad3d2a8
Mulvihill, Aisling, Matthews, Natasha, Dux, Paul E. and Carroll, Annemaree (2019). Private Speech Task Relevant Regulatory Content Coding Scheme Adapted from Zimmerman’s (2000; 2009) Cyclical SRL model. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.14264/uql.2019.672
Sherlock, Deberea and Mulvihill, Aisling (2018). MASTER Focus Program: Outline of Skills. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.14264/uql.2018.524
Sherlock, Deberea and Mulvihill, Aisling (2018). Metacognitive Instructional Framework. The University of Queensland. (Dataset) doi: 10.14264/uql.2018.521