In a Health Research Council (HRC)-funded study, Marsh will design and test an intervention aimed at parents to help them make decisions about reducing their teen's screen time and to follow through on them.
The approach draws on principles of a field called neuro-economics, which asserts that decision-making - particularly under risk and uncertainty - begins in the emotion centre of the brain.
Marsh will explore how to target emotion in the decision-making process, as opposed to relying on logic and rationalisation, which has failed to address the issue.
"Rather than focusing on outcomes - or 'doing this to reduce screen time' - this technique influences decision-making by focusing on values, and the beliefs that inspire us," she said.
"We might deeply value the idea of teens engaging with their environment or family, for example: excessive screen use merely represents a barrier or roadblock to this value."
The concept has already had success in the corporate world, but in research, it was a radically different approach, Marsh said.
Meanwhile, another study awarded an HRC's Explorer Grant, will use a virtual reality (VR) lab to measure the reactions - including heart rate and sweat - of e-cigarette and tobacco smokers tested within it.
"A radical shift in thinking needs to be introduced to understand underlying causes of people's subconscious behaviour," explained University of Canterbury researcher Dr Melanie Tomintz, who will lead the work.
Health data is mainly collected by using surveys, which could lead to bias and inaccurate representations of people's actual behaviour, she said.
The study aimed to measure people's behavioural and psychophysiological reactions when exposed to virtual stimuli, such as tobacco, different flavours of e-cigarette liquids, and other conditions within a virtual world.
Tomintz hoped the newly collected behavioural data could be transformed into new ways to support personalised quit support.
For her research, she'll have access to an existing virtual lab, including two multisensory VR cage prototypes.
Beyond this project, the virtual lab could be used to test people's reactions to proposed future policies – a useful step before rolling out new treatments and policies, she said.
The explorer grant scheme seeks to attract and fund transformative research ideas with the potential for major impact on healthcare.
"Our explorer grants aim to support scientists to do work that challenges established wisdom – to really go where no one has gone before and break new ground," HRC chief executive Professor Kath McPherson said.
"We know some of these studies will make a real difference to what we know, how we think, and eventually result in better outcomes for New Zealanders."
