Neurocognitive substrates of naming facilitation in aphasia. This research directly addresses the national research priority goal of ageing well, ageing productively, by providing foundational knowledge for improved outcomes in the growing population of individuals in Australia with language impairments from age-related disease. Outcomes of the proposed research will include (1) development of a new theory of word production which can improve treatment of language impairment, (2) an enhanced und ....Neurocognitive substrates of naming facilitation in aphasia. This research directly addresses the national research priority goal of ageing well, ageing productively, by providing foundational knowledge for improved outcomes in the growing population of individuals in Australia with language impairments from age-related disease. Outcomes of the proposed research will include (1) development of a new theory of word production which can improve treatment of language impairment, (2) an enhanced understanding of the cognitive and brain mechanisms involved in word production and its treatment after stroke, and (3) postgraduate training in state-of-the-art cognitive neuroimaging and language neuroscience research. 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
Optimal Training Methods for Lexical Tone Perception by Children with Cochlear Implants: Application of Experimental Psychology Techniques. Cochlear implants (CIs) stimulate the auditory nerve via electrodes in the cochlear to provide auditory information to people who would otherwise be functionally deaf. Cochlear site stimulation is at a constant rate so, despite the genius of the CI, it cannot convey pitch information effectively. Such information is essential for perceiving and speaking ton ....Optimal Training Methods for Lexical Tone Perception by Children with Cochlear Implants: Application of Experimental Psychology Techniques. Cochlear implants (CIs) stimulate the auditory nerve via electrodes in the cochlear to provide auditory information to people who would otherwise be functionally deaf. Cochlear site stimulation is at a constant rate so, despite the genius of the CI, it cannot convey pitch information effectively. Such information is essential for perceiving and speaking tone languages, in which word meaning depends on consonants, vowels, and tones (conveyed mainly by pitch). A training method to improve tone perception will be developed with non-tone language non-CI through to tone language CI children drawing on experimental psychology methods, auditory and visual (lip & face) speech information, exaggerated tone cues, and metalinguistic instruction.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
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0347784
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$130,000.00
Summary
MOVEMENT & COMMUNICATION ANALYSIS LAB & PORTABLE AUDIENCE RESPONSE FACILITY. The equipment establishes an integrated movement analysis laboratory and audience response facility to support and extend ongoing collaborative research projects that investigate human visual and auditory communication through gestures of voice and body. This laboratory will allow recording and analysis of fine and gross motor activity in: caregiver-infant and therapist-client interaction; auditory-visual speech percept ....MOVEMENT & COMMUNICATION ANALYSIS LAB & PORTABLE AUDIENCE RESPONSE FACILITY. The equipment establishes an integrated movement analysis laboratory and audience response facility to support and extend ongoing collaborative research projects that investigate human visual and auditory communication through gestures of voice and body. This laboratory will allow recording and analysis of fine and gross motor activity in: caregiver-infant and therapist-client interaction; auditory-visual speech perception; audience reactions to gesture and dance. The audience response facility, a portable system of small keypads programmed to record discrete and continuous responses, brings precision to recording psychological responses in a naturalistic setting. The combined equipment allows concerted investigation of human communicative gesture.Read moreRead less
Expecting the Unexpected: Learning Complex Temporal and Rhythmic Relations. Music is one of the most accessible routes to experience, and to learn about, cultures other than our own. A new implicit method for learning complex rhythm and underlying metre promotes inter-group understanding and communication. We hypothesize that implicit learning (IL) of unfamiliar complex metres through music generalizes to spoken language built on similar metres; IL facilitates segmentation of previously unfamili ....Expecting the Unexpected: Learning Complex Temporal and Rhythmic Relations. Music is one of the most accessible routes to experience, and to learn about, cultures other than our own. A new implicit method for learning complex rhythm and underlying metre promotes inter-group understanding and communication. We hypothesize that implicit learning (IL) of unfamiliar complex metres through music generalizes to spoken language built on similar metres; IL facilitates segmentation of previously unfamiliar spoken language and enhances recognition of English spoken with the stress pattern of a 'foreign' metre. Future intervention programs based on implicit learning of temporal relations will benefit people with reading difficulties or timing problems characteristic of cerebellar and basal ganglia patients.Read moreRead less