Single and dual process models of recognition memory: Reconciliation of behavioural, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging data. Advanced brain scanning technologies are increasingly used to study human memory. As well as being important for our basic understanding of memory, they also tell us how memory is affected by normal development, ageing, disease, and injury. Unfortunately, because these technologies are so new, a gap has opened up between our psychological understanding of memory and t ....Single and dual process models of recognition memory: Reconciliation of behavioural, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging data. Advanced brain scanning technologies are increasingly used to study human memory. As well as being important for our basic understanding of memory, they also tell us how memory is affected by normal development, ageing, disease, and injury. Unfortunately, because these technologies are so new, a gap has opened up between our psychological understanding of memory and the physiological events measured by the scanning technologies. This has created a problem for how we should interpret the results that are found. The present project aims to close this gap by applying new research methodologies and theoretical insights based on our previous research.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100741
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$342,996.00
Summary
Harnessing neural plasticity with brain stimulation. This project aims to investigate the links between the molecular mechanisms underlying brain plasticity and the effects of non-invasive brain stimulation. It will use a novel approach that integrates genetics, electrophysiology and biological modelling. Plasticity underpins all learning, memory and aging. Brain stimulation can drive plasticity in humans, but these effects are extremely difficult to harness and vary widely between people. Expec ....Harnessing neural plasticity with brain stimulation. This project aims to investigate the links between the molecular mechanisms underlying brain plasticity and the effects of non-invasive brain stimulation. It will use a novel approach that integrates genetics, electrophysiology and biological modelling. Plasticity underpins all learning, memory and aging. Brain stimulation can drive plasticity in humans, but these effects are extremely difficult to harness and vary widely between people. Expected outcomes include a critical understanding of the fundamental mechanisms governing plasticity. This will provide significant benefits such as the development of individually optimised brain stimulation protocols, enabling tailored, reliable approaches to address brain function and cognition.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100575
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$423,604.00
Summary
Does neuroplasticity protect against late life cognitive impairment? This project aims to investigate neuroplasticity across the adult lifespan, using novel neurophysiological approaches to determine its role in protecting against age-related cognitive decline. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of human cognitive ageing, using an innovative and interdisciplinary approach. Expected outcomes of this project include a critical understanding of the basic neural mechanisms of ....Does neuroplasticity protect against late life cognitive impairment? This project aims to investigate neuroplasticity across the adult lifespan, using novel neurophysiological approaches to determine its role in protecting against age-related cognitive decline. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of human cognitive ageing, using an innovative and interdisciplinary approach. Expected outcomes of this project include a critical understanding of the basic neural mechanisms of healthy brain ageing. This will provide significant benefits, such as the neurophysiological knowledge required to develop novel biological markers to detect, as well as therapeutic agents to curb, cognitive decline in the aging population.Read moreRead less
Understanding working memory: from cells to brain stimulation. This project aims to understand the neural mechanisms of working memory, a fundamental cognitive function in humans, using a novel framework which combines non-invasive brain stimulation, neuroimaging, pharmacological and experimental manipulations, and biological modelling. Expected outcomes include a critical understanding of the cellular mechanisms underlying both neural activity and working memory ability in healthy individuals a ....Understanding working memory: from cells to brain stimulation. This project aims to understand the neural mechanisms of working memory, a fundamental cognitive function in humans, using a novel framework which combines non-invasive brain stimulation, neuroimaging, pharmacological and experimental manipulations, and biological modelling. Expected outcomes include a critical understanding of the cellular mechanisms underlying both neural activity and working memory ability in healthy individuals and a detailed knowledge of how to non-invasively interact with these mechanisms using brain stimulation. This will provide significant benefits such as the development of individually optimised brain stimulation protocols, enabling tailored approaches to reliably alter brain function and cognition.Read moreRead less
Are two processes one too many? An investigation of the viability of the dual-process model of recognition memory. Memory is the glue that holds together our lives and personal identities. While psychologists are developing better and more sophisticated accounts of how it works, many deep questions remain. The present research examines some of these questions in relation to how memory can be decomposed into its component processes and how we are to understand these processes. An appropriate unde ....Are two processes one too many? An investigation of the viability of the dual-process model of recognition memory. Memory is the glue that holds together our lives and personal identities. While psychologists are developing better and more sophisticated accounts of how it works, many deep questions remain. The present research examines some of these questions in relation to how memory can be decomposed into its component processes and how we are to understand these processes. An appropriate understanding of these questions is vital to the development of interventions (both psychological and pharmacological) designed to halt or even reverse memory decline associated with normal aging and age-associated brain disease (such as Alzheimer disease).Read moreRead less
The Australian naturalistic driving study: innovation in road safety research and policy. A revolutionary new approach, the naturalistic driving study, will investigate what people actually do when they drive, in normal and safety-critical situations. It will provide Australia with answers to some intractable, high priority, road safety problems that cannot be answered using current methods, thereby saving hundreds of lives.
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE130100050
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$570,000.00
Summary
Integrated facility for recording driver and road user behaviour. The integrated facility will be used to record and analyse data on driver and road user behaviour, in normal and safety-critical situations, for thousands of Australian drivers. The data yielded will be used to develop new and improved countermeasures for reducing road deaths and serious injuries on Australian roads.
Extending Cognitive Models to Account for Individual Differences. Despite their impressive achievements, cognitive models of memory retention, category learning, and stimulus representation usually model people as ?invariants?, concentrating on what makes them the same. This project aims to extend all three types of model to also treat people as ?individuals?, and account for how people are different. Advanced model selection methods will be used to do this in a way that is complete, general, an ....Extending Cognitive Models to Account for Individual Differences. Despite their impressive achievements, cognitive models of memory retention, category learning, and stimulus representation usually model people as ?invariants?, concentrating on what makes them the same. This project aims to extend all three types of model to also treat people as ?individuals?, and account for how people are different. Advanced model selection methods will be used to do this in a way that is complete, general, and principled. The outcome will be a set of new theoretical models, and new algorithms to learn the models from empirical data, that explain the differences between people in remembering, learning and representing information.Read moreRead less
Towards an integrated model of reasoning and reasoning development. This project aims to identify the core cognitive processes that underlie different forms of reasoning and how they develop. The project intends to use a signal detection framework to derive detailed computational models of reasoning which can then be tested through Bayesian computational modelling as well as the first systematic investigation of developmental change in reasoning processes. Expected outcomes include a more princi ....Towards an integrated model of reasoning and reasoning development. This project aims to identify the core cognitive processes that underlie different forms of reasoning and how they develop. The project intends to use a signal detection framework to derive detailed computational models of reasoning which can then be tested through Bayesian computational modelling as well as the first systematic investigation of developmental change in reasoning processes. Expected outcomes include a more principled and comprehensive computational model of reasoning in both adults and children. The project should provide significant benefits by helping to resolve long-standing debates about how humans reason complex arguments relevant to everyday lives and guide development of more effective methods for teaching reasoning.Read moreRead less
Reconnecting the ageing brain to enhance plasticity and motor learning. The ability to execute and learn skillful actions deteriorates with advancing age, but the cause remains elusive. The main aim of this project is to use new neurophysiological techniques to examine the age-related changes in brain function that contribute to reduced movement control in healthy older adults. The research will use multimodal approaches to reveal the causal role of age-related changes in specific brain networks ....Reconnecting the ageing brain to enhance plasticity and motor learning. The ability to execute and learn skillful actions deteriorates with advancing age, but the cause remains elusive. The main aim of this project is to use new neurophysiological techniques to examine the age-related changes in brain function that contribute to reduced movement control in healthy older adults. The research will use multimodal approaches to reveal the causal role of age-related changes in specific brain networks to motor behaviour and learning. The outcomes will provide significant new knowledge that may help to optimise the design of targeted interventions aimed at rejuvenating brain function and movement quality in the elderly.Read moreRead less