Investigation of the component distributions of pause duration in spontaneous speech: Constraints for models of language production. We have discovered that the distribution of pause durations in spontaneous speech of individual speakers can be decomposed into at least two log-normal distributions. Our project will investigate this finding and provide a foundation for new research relevant to language production models. This will be achieved by determining the semantic, lexical, psycholinguistic ....Investigation of the component distributions of pause duration in spontaneous speech: Constraints for models of language production. We have discovered that the distribution of pause durations in spontaneous speech of individual speakers can be decomposed into at least two log-normal distributions. Our project will investigate this finding and provide a foundation for new research relevant to language production models. This will be achieved by determining the semantic, lexical, psycholinguistic, physiological, and acoustic concomitants of each component distribution and by investigating the impact of selected variables on the shape and location of each. The project has important implications for models of language production and applied problems involving automatic speech recognition, forensic speaker identification, and human communication disorders.Read moreRead less
How feedback can impair recognition judgments and undermine border security, criminal investigations, educational testing, and medical screening. If a customs officer learns that they have missed an explosive device while screening luggage, will this affect their judgment? In many scenarios, a person receives feedback about their recognition memory performance and has to try again without having another chance to study the material. Almost no research has examined the effects of feedback on reco ....How feedback can impair recognition judgments and undermine border security, criminal investigations, educational testing, and medical screening. If a customs officer learns that they have missed an explosive device while screening luggage, will this affect their judgment? In many scenarios, a person receives feedback about their recognition memory performance and has to try again without having another chance to study the material. Almost no research has examined the effects of feedback on recognition in the absence of opportunity for further study. This is problematic because many vitally important recognition decisions lack such opportunity. Using various scenarios (face recognition, security screening, multiple-choice testing, and medical screening) this project will demonstrate that feedback affects recognition performance differently depending on the nature of the recognition decision.Read moreRead less
Optimal strategies for collaborative visual search. The ability of individual operators to search for and detect targets is a weak link in many military, medical, and industrial operations. Teams of operators, however, can perform well even when individuals do not. This project aims to investigate a promising new eye-tracking technique, gaze-linking, that helps searchers collaborate efficiently by allowing each to know where the other is looking. This research builds on mathematical models of in ....Optimal strategies for collaborative visual search. The ability of individual operators to search for and detect targets is a weak link in many military, medical, and industrial operations. Teams of operators, however, can perform well even when individuals do not. This project aims to investigate a promising new eye-tracking technique, gaze-linking, that helps searchers collaborate efficiently by allowing each to know where the other is looking. This research builds on mathematical models of information processing to identify strategies that optimise gaze-linked collaboration, and is expected to develop principles for training gaze-linked searchers. Gaze-linking offers a promising, and potentially economical, technique for improving human performance, increasing efficiency and safety in a variety of tasks.Read moreRead less
Developing a generative transformational theory of visual perception. This project will develop and test a generative, transformational computer model of visual perception, based on fractal encoding. This uses a powerful similarity metric to select transformations, that, when applied to image elements, generate a replica of the image. The model can detect and analyse structure in regular and semi-regular images, even when embedded in noise. This approach provides an explanation for several perce ....Developing a generative transformational theory of visual perception. This project will develop and test a generative, transformational computer model of visual perception, based on fractal encoding. This uses a powerful similarity metric to select transformations, that, when applied to image elements, generate a replica of the image. The model can detect and analyse structure in regular and semi-regular images, even when embedded in noise. This approach provides an explanation for several perceptual phenomena and illusions. It can reconcile opposed theories of perception and provide a unifying perspective on perception and cognition. Practical applications include the automatic recognition of objects in imagery and the detection of structure in complex data.Read moreRead less
Developing an integrative theoretical account of some basic mechanisms and limiting factors in human perception and cognition. The principal factors limiting cognitive performance are widely considered to be information processing speed, working memory capacity, and the effective control of cognitive processes. The proposed programme aims to develop and test a unifying theory relating these to two of the most basic achievements of the brain - discrimination and identification. This will help us ....Developing an integrative theoretical account of some basic mechanisms and limiting factors in human perception and cognition. The principal factors limiting cognitive performance are widely considered to be information processing speed, working memory capacity, and the effective control of cognitive processes. The proposed programme aims to develop and test a unifying theory relating these to two of the most basic achievements of the brain - discrimination and identification. This will help us to understand the underlying basis of differences and changes in cognitive performance. The outcomes have implications for the design, analysis and interpretation of studies of perception, judgement, memory and intelligence. The research also has applied relevance to neuropsychology, information handling and the design of system interfaces.Read moreRead less
Who should join the suspect in a police photo array? The traditional police line-up often produces inaccurate decisions, with witnesses failing to pick the culprit or picking an innocent suspect. Surprisingly, despite all the scientific advances with respect to the collection of eyewitness evidence, there is absolutely no objective basis for selecting the ‘fillers’ to accompany the suspect in the line-up. Guidelines merely suggest the fillers should not be too similar or too dissimilar to the su ....Who should join the suspect in a police photo array? The traditional police line-up often produces inaccurate decisions, with witnesses failing to pick the culprit or picking an innocent suspect. Surprisingly, despite all the scientific advances with respect to the collection of eyewitness evidence, there is absolutely no objective basis for selecting the ‘fillers’ to accompany the suspect in the line-up. Guidelines merely suggest the fillers should not be too similar or too dissimilar to the suspect. However, the fillers are likely to have a crucial influence on decision accuracy. This project aims to remedy this striking deficiency by developing and testing a flexible and universally applicable methodology for photo array composition that will optimise judgmental discriminability and curtail bias.Read moreRead less
The dynamics of witness confidence effects on juror judgments. While psychologists and criminal justice professionals concur that eyewitness confidence is one of the major influences on juror judgments, previous researchers' treatment of confidence as an invariant testimonial characteristic means that we actually know little about the impact of witness confidence. This research tests social persuasion theories and reveals the dynamic effects on juror judgments and verdicts of the sort of confide ....The dynamics of witness confidence effects on juror judgments. While psychologists and criminal justice professionals concur that eyewitness confidence is one of the major influences on juror judgments, previous researchers' treatment of confidence as an invariant testimonial characteristic means that we actually know little about the impact of witness confidence. This research tests social persuasion theories and reveals the dynamic effects on juror judgments and verdicts of the sort of confidence fluctuations that characterise real witnesses. Knowing how such fluctuations will shape jurors' judgments is vital for judges (when instructing jurors) and for police and lawyers when they assess the likely impact of the witnesses they intend to call.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102378
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
What shapes the structure of language? An experimental and computational investigation. How do people learn language so easily, and how is the structure of language shaped by our learning biases? This project attempts to answer these questions through an innovative combination of experimental and computational tools, with implications for technological development as well as educational interventions for both children and adults.
Sleeping for Gold: The Influence of Sleep on the Sports Performance of Elite Athletes. The aim of this project is to improve the performance of Australia's elite athletes by enhancing the amount and quality of sleep that they obtain. This project will have three major benefits. First, successful role models will encourage more Australian children and adults to participate in sport. This is critical given that the incidence of obesity (a major risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and ....Sleeping for Gold: The Influence of Sleep on the Sports Performance of Elite Athletes. The aim of this project is to improve the performance of Australia's elite athletes by enhancing the amount and quality of sleep that they obtain. This project will have three major benefits. First, successful role models will encourage more Australian children and adults to participate in sport. This is critical given that the incidence of obesity (a major risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers) has doubled in Australia in the last 15 years as participation in sport has dropped. Second, the success of our elite athletes will provide a source of pride in our achievements as a nation. Third, this research will enable the Australian Institute of Sport to remain as an international leader in sports science research.Read moreRead less
Learning from others: Inductive reasoning based on human-generated data. Most of the data we see every day, from politics to gossip, comes from other people. Making inferences about such data is difficult because the people who provided it may have biases or limitations in their knowledge that we do not know about and must figure out. This project uses a series of experiments tied to normative computational models of social reasoning to explore how people solve this problem. This work has the po ....Learning from others: Inductive reasoning based on human-generated data. Most of the data we see every day, from politics to gossip, comes from other people. Making inferences about such data is difficult because the people who provided it may have biases or limitations in their knowledge that we do not know about and must figure out. This project uses a series of experiments tied to normative computational models of social reasoning to explore how people solve this problem. This work has the potential to make a major impact in understanding how information is understood and shared, especially when it is about topics that people lack firsthand knowledge about, like climate change. The computational models also have applications to the development of expert systems upon which our information economy relies.Read moreRead less