Learning how people read: Models, brains, big data and maths. Aims: This project aims to understand how people read. We will use novel mathematical methods, experimentation, brain imaging and computational modelling to adjudicate between model predictions.
Significance: This project expects to develop methods to understand and test important aspects of reading.
Expected outcomes: Expected outcomes are the development of novel methods for understanding complex models and the collection of data t ....Learning how people read: Models, brains, big data and maths. Aims: This project aims to understand how people read. We will use novel mathematical methods, experimentation, brain imaging and computational modelling to adjudicate between model predictions.
Significance: This project expects to develop methods to understand and test important aspects of reading.
Expected outcomes: Expected outcomes are the development of novel methods for understanding complex models and the collection of data that can extend and falsify current models of reading.
Benefits: These developments will significantly increase our understanding of how people read and what causes dyslexia. This work will also provide new ways to evaluate complex computational psychological models.Read moreRead less
The basics of reading: How are letter-strings identified as words? In order for people to read effectively, the mental representation of each letter-string must be found in long-term memory. The aim of this project is to more fully understand the nature of proficient visual word recognition with a particular focus on the way in which the form of the word is mentally stored and retrieved during the act of reading. A range of issues will be examined from letter position coding through to how words ....The basics of reading: How are letter-strings identified as words? In order for people to read effectively, the mental representation of each letter-string must be found in long-term memory. The aim of this project is to more fully understand the nature of proficient visual word recognition with a particular focus on the way in which the form of the word is mentally stored and retrieved during the act of reading. A range of issues will be examined from letter position coding through to how words with a complex internal structure are processed, all framed within a unified model of word recognition. An understanding of the mechanisms underlying proficient adult reading is significant and beneficial in that it is expected to provide a framework for guiding both reading acquisition and reading improvement programs.Read moreRead less
Rapid decisions: from neuroscience to complex cognitions. A succession of rapid decisions supports our daily life - run or walk? Fish or steak? This project will integrate three different approaches to understanding these decisions, from neuroscience, mathematical psychology and experimental psychology. This research will provide insights about normal human functioning, and problems such as occur in healthy ageing.
The psychology of not wanting to know. This project aims to deliver insights into paradoxical decision-making behaviours of humans who pursue either useless information or deliberate ignorance. The project intends to shed new light on why these conflicting states of information preference exist by building on significant recent advances in understanding how reinforcement learning, anticipation and discounting combine to determine when people do and do not want to know. Intended benefits include ....The psychology of not wanting to know. This project aims to deliver insights into paradoxical decision-making behaviours of humans who pursue either useless information or deliberate ignorance. The project intends to shed new light on why these conflicting states of information preference exist by building on significant recent advances in understanding how reinforcement learning, anticipation and discounting combine to determine when people do and do not want to know. Intended benefits include maintaining and enhancing the excellent status of Australian psychological and cognitive science. The downstream benefits include elucidating the development of anxiety disorders and problem gambling.Read moreRead less
Evidence-accumulation models of external influences on decision-making. This project aims to apply the evidence-accumulation computational framework of decision-making to investigate how simple interventions affect our choices. It intends to use a suite of theory-driven experiments, state-of-the-art techniques for testing the robustness of empirical effects, and the powerful computational machinery inherent in evidence-accumulation models. Expected outcomes include providing a comprehensive char ....Evidence-accumulation models of external influences on decision-making. This project aims to apply the evidence-accumulation computational framework of decision-making to investigate how simple interventions affect our choices. It intends to use a suite of theory-driven experiments, state-of-the-art techniques for testing the robustness of empirical effects, and the powerful computational machinery inherent in evidence-accumulation models. Expected outcomes include providing a comprehensive characterisation of how, why and when simple external factors exert their influence on decision-making. Significant benefits include the enhancement of the world-class status of Australian cognitive and mathematical psychology.Read moreRead less
Determinants and consequences of conscious visual awareness. Usually salient images can disappear from awareness without corresponding stimulus changes. This project is based on an innovative account linking such disappearances to a functional adaptation which facilitates vision in cluttered environments. Project completion will expand Australia's knowledge base, forge links between junior and senior Australian based investigators and provide excellent training opportunities. Publication of rese ....Determinants and consequences of conscious visual awareness. Usually salient images can disappear from awareness without corresponding stimulus changes. This project is based on an innovative account linking such disappearances to a functional adaptation which facilitates vision in cluttered environments. Project completion will expand Australia's knowledge base, forge links between junior and senior Australian based investigators and provide excellent training opportunities. Publication of research in top-ranking international journals will further promote Australian science abroad. Ultimately, this research will have implications for the design and implementation of artificial visual systems, which must overcome many of the same dilemmas faced by the human visual system in cluttered environments.Read moreRead less
Human time perception: A crossmodal investigation. This research program investigates time perception in humans in the subsecond range. Time perception is a crucial aspect of cognitive functioning but one that is poorly understood. The subsecond scale is particularly relevant because it is the time-frame for crucial tasks such as motor coordination, speech perception and crossmodal integration. This project examines time in an audiovisual context, exploring the cognitive limits of our ability to ....Human time perception: A crossmodal investigation. This research program investigates time perception in humans in the subsecond range. Time perception is a crucial aspect of cognitive functioning but one that is poorly understood. The subsecond scale is particularly relevant because it is the time-frame for crucial tasks such as motor coordination, speech perception and crossmodal integration. This project examines time in an audiovisual context, exploring the cognitive limits of our ability to keep track of time and testing whether time is encoded as a basic feature. These experiments will further our knowledge of time perception and lead to improved models of how the brain encodes time.Read moreRead less
Audio-visual interactions in human perception. How the brain integrates information from different sensory modalities to form coherent perceptions of the external environment is a challenging question in sensory and cognitive neuroscience. Neurophysiologically, sensory interactions have become well documented over the last decade or so. Complementary perceptual research, however, is lacking. This project seeks to redress the imbalance, using audio-visual interactions as a paradigm. Psychophysica ....Audio-visual interactions in human perception. How the brain integrates information from different sensory modalities to form coherent perceptions of the external environment is a challenging question in sensory and cognitive neuroscience. Neurophysiologically, sensory interactions have become well documented over the last decade or so. Complementary perceptual research, however, is lacking. This project seeks to redress the imbalance, using audio-visual interactions as a paradigm. Psychophysical experiments will explore: (i) audio-visual interactions in perception (sound enhancing vision, vision enhancing hearing); (ii) audio-visual interactions in spatial attention. Neurophysiological evidence, plus very recent psychophysical findings of audio-visual interactions, suggest this will be a rich vein of research.Read moreRead less
Characterising and linking intermediate-level processing of pattern, motion and position in human vision? This work will advance basic science by enhancing understanding of human coding of image structure. The aim is to provide a common structure for understanding visual processing of form, motion and position. The work will help lift the international profile of Australian science. Explaining how the primitives for shape perception are extracted will also have consequences of potential economic ....Characterising and linking intermediate-level processing of pattern, motion and position in human vision? This work will advance basic science by enhancing understanding of human coding of image structure. The aim is to provide a common structure for understanding visual processing of form, motion and position. The work will help lift the international profile of Australian science. Explaining how the primitives for shape perception are extracted will also have consequences of potential economic benefit. One important aspect is the design of displays that allow observers to absorb complex information about rapidly changing situations. This work has the potential to provide information that enables display designers to optimise the efficiency of presentation of pattern and motion information.Read moreRead less
Visual Coding of Motion and Form. Understanding how brains solve the problems of vision may prove crucial in understanding how to build intelligent robots capable of seeing, as well as in developing more sophisticated virtual reality-type computer-based technologies. Moreover, given that a large proportion of our cortex is given over to visual processing, anything we can learn about the operation of the visual system might prove relevant to our understanding of cortical processing in general as ....Visual Coding of Motion and Form. Understanding how brains solve the problems of vision may prove crucial in understanding how to build intelligent robots capable of seeing, as well as in developing more sophisticated virtual reality-type computer-based technologies. Moreover, given that a large proportion of our cortex is given over to visual processing, anything we can learn about the operation of the visual system might prove relevant to our understanding of cortical processing in general as well as bringing us one step closer to an explanation of how activity in our brains gives rise to the experience of conscious perception. This project will directly expand Australia's knowledge-base regarding neural processing in general and visual perception in particular.Read moreRead less