Time discounting in late career financial and activity planning. A new career decision model of retirement activity and financial planning will be tested that combines hyperbolic delay discounting with exponential interest growth, while also examining the impact of risk framed in terms of changing goverment tax legislation and uncertain health. The role of expertise and simulated training in reducing time discounting will be examined, and results combined to form a late career web assistance pro ....Time discounting in late career financial and activity planning. A new career decision model of retirement activity and financial planning will be tested that combines hyperbolic delay discounting with exponential interest growth, while also examining the impact of risk framed in terms of changing goverment tax legislation and uncertain health. The role of expertise and simulated training in reducing time discounting will be examined, and results combined to form a late career web assistance program. Improving predictions of the decision to retire will benefit individuals, financial planners, investors and employing organisations.Read moreRead less
Affective influences social thinking and behaviour: A social neuroscience approach. Affective states have a major influence on how people think and behave in everyday life. However, the psychological and neural mechanisms producing these effects remain incompletely understood. This project will investigate how external situations and internal cognitive and neurological mechanisms interact to facilitate or inhibit affective influences on judgments and behaviour. The project will also develop and ....Affective influences social thinking and behaviour: A social neuroscience approach. Affective states have a major influence on how people think and behave in everyday life. However, the psychological and neural mechanisms producing these effects remain incompletely understood. This project will investigate how external situations and internal cognitive and neurological mechanisms interact to facilitate or inhibit affective influences on judgments and behaviour. The project will also develop and test an innovative information processing theory of affective influences, and develop new empirical methods for measuring the cognitive and behavioural consequences of affect. Studies will also investigate the influence of affect on clinical, organisational, educational and health outcomes, and on various real-life behaviours.
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Logic and language: Foundations of cognitive growth. This project investigates children's competence in using language, from a biological perspective. The past twenty years has witnessed innovative developments in behavioral measures (e.g., eye-movement recording) and computational models of language development. I propose to integrate this research with the study of the neural basis of cognitive processes, using a new methodology for functional brain imaging, magnetoencephalography (MEG), The p ....Logic and language: Foundations of cognitive growth. This project investigates children's competence in using language, from a biological perspective. The past twenty years has witnessed innovative developments in behavioral measures (e.g., eye-movement recording) and computational models of language development. I propose to integrate this research with the study of the neural basis of cognitive processes, using a new methodology for functional brain imaging, magnetoencephalography (MEG), The project combines behavioral, computational, and biological methods to better understand (a) the nature of linguistic knowledge, (b) how logical expressions are acquired, and (c) how knowledge of logic and language are put to use by children in production and comprehension.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882345
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$650,000.00
Summary
A 3.0 Tesla MRI system for human cognitive neuroscience research. For the first time scientists are beginning to reveal the complex relationship between human brain function and behaviour. These advances have stemmed almost exclusively from the development of sophisticated brain scanning techniques that provide high-resolution images of physiological changes associated with perceptual, cognitive and motor behaviours. This application seeks support for a state-of-the-art scanner to obtain high-re ....A 3.0 Tesla MRI system for human cognitive neuroscience research. For the first time scientists are beginning to reveal the complex relationship between human brain function and behaviour. These advances have stemmed almost exclusively from the development of sophisticated brain scanning techniques that provide high-resolution images of physiological changes associated with perceptual, cognitive and motor behaviours. This application seeks support for a state-of-the-art scanner to obtain high-resolution images of the brain as healthy adults perceive, think, learn, remember and decide. The facility will enable Australian scientists to understand the complex links between brain and behaviour in health and disease.Read moreRead less
How, What and Who in Human Communication: Movement of Face and Voice. The aim of this project is to identify the essential characteristics of tone, affect, and identity from face and voice using a combination of signal processing, biological, and behavioural techniques in order to develop a comprehensive model of auditory-visual speech processing and communication. This research will significantly improve understanding of the basis of auditory-visual perception and production in tonal languages ....How, What and Who in Human Communication: Movement of Face and Voice. The aim of this project is to identify the essential characteristics of tone, affect, and identity from face and voice using a combination of signal processing, biological, and behavioural techniques in order to develop a comprehensive model of auditory-visual speech processing and communication. This research will significantly improve understanding of the basis of auditory-visual perception and production in tonal languages and in affective communication, facilitate links between neurophysiological processes and auditory-visual speech processing; and contribute to applications in automatic person recognition, automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech systems, and talking head aids for the hearing impaired.Read moreRead less
'As-if thinking': an experimental analysis of human reasoning and decision-making. The failure to respond adequately to the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 highlighted the difficulty of sequential decision-making. Responses to such emergencies require detailed contingency plans, necessitating a consideration of all possible outcomes of a situation regardless of their objective probability. This project takes an innovative approach to the experimental analysis of human reasoning and de ....'As-if thinking': an experimental analysis of human reasoning and decision-making. The failure to respond adequately to the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 highlighted the difficulty of sequential decision-making. Responses to such emergencies require detailed contingency plans, necessitating a consideration of all possible outcomes of a situation regardless of their objective probability. This project takes an innovative approach to the experimental analysis of human reasoning and decision-making, with the aim of identifying the mechanisms, factors, and boundary conditions affecting inferences and decisions about uncertain alternatives. The research will inform planning for Australia's readiness to respond to unpredictable events with uncertain outcomes and enhance the reputation of Australian science.Read moreRead less
Smells that 'taste': Flavour perception and its consequences. The experience of flavour during eating and drinking has surprising social and economic ramifications. Our preference for sweet and fatty food has contributed to progressive increases in body mass over the last twenty years. Many experts now consider this to be a major public health crisis in the making. Economically, Australia is heavily dependent upon food exports, both in terms of primary production and value added processed food ....Smells that 'taste': Flavour perception and its consequences. The experience of flavour during eating and drinking has surprising social and economic ramifications. Our preference for sweet and fatty food has contributed to progressive increases in body mass over the last twenty years. Many experts now consider this to be a major public health crisis in the making. Economically, Australia is heavily dependent upon food exports, both in terms of primary production and value added processed food. Understanding the psychology of flavour, which is central to this project, should assist the development of non-fattening additives that appreciably alter fat and sweetness perception, creating new food products that are healthy, preferred and potential export earners. Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE100100055
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$400,000.00
Summary
State-of-the-art upgrade to multi-transmit multi-receive technology for research dedicated 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Projects requiring the proposed infrastructure are aligned with two National Research Priorities. The research will lead to new methods for imaging and detecting soft tissue changes, identifying developmental, cognitive and degenerative disorders, and pharmacological research. The understanding of the basis of physiological, cognitive and biochemical proces ....State-of-the-art upgrade to multi-transmit multi-receive technology for research dedicated 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Projects requiring the proposed infrastructure are aligned with two National Research Priorities. The research will lead to new methods for imaging and detecting soft tissue changes, identifying developmental, cognitive and degenerative disorders, and pharmacological research. The understanding of the basis of physiological, cognitive and biochemical processes which will be facilitated by the new equipment will contribute to the priority area Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and will underpin an array of subsequent medical research. The new equipment will extend capabilities and training in signal analysis, biomedical engineering and biomedicine, contributing to the priority area Frontier technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries.Read moreRead less
Ageing and self-regulation. Australia is faced with an ageing population, and thus an increasingly important national goal is ageing well and ageing productively. Our preliminary research suggests that self-regulation may be a significant problem for older Australians. The proposed research will provide a clearer picture of when and why older adults have difficulties regulating their behaviour, and which older adults are particularly susceptible to lapses in self-control. If older adults do hav ....Ageing and self-regulation. Australia is faced with an ageing population, and thus an increasingly important national goal is ageing well and ageing productively. Our preliminary research suggests that self-regulation may be a significant problem for older Australians. The proposed research will provide a clearer picture of when and why older adults have difficulties regulating their behaviour, and which older adults are particularly susceptible to lapses in self-control. If older adults do have difficulties self-regulating, and if these self-regulation failures incur health, financial and social costs, by gaining a clearer understanding of this problem, the proposed research will take an important step in improving the lives of older Australians. Read moreRead less
Knowing in advance: Effective strategies for preparing young children for novel experiences. To optimise cognitive and emotional development, it is critical to identify the influences on children's lives. How parent-child conversations about the past shape development is well understood, but scant research has examined how adult-child preparatory discussions influence children's experience and memory of future events. Our research addresses this gap. It has important implications in medical, edu ....Knowing in advance: Effective strategies for preparing young children for novel experiences. To optimise cognitive and emotional development, it is critical to identify the influences on children's lives. How parent-child conversations about the past shape development is well understood, but scant research has examined how adult-child preparatory discussions influence children's experience and memory of future events. Our research addresses this gap. It has important implications in medical, educational, and other contexts in which it is vital to ensure that information given in advance increases children's understanding of an experience. More generally, in specifying optimal parent-child interactions, the findings are also relevant to interventions aiming to enhance psychological and emotional resilience in the early years. Read moreRead less