Using diagnostic tests in science as formative assessment to enhance teaching and learning. The success and continuation of science programs in upper secondary school and university is dependent on foundational improvements in science education in lower secondary schools. This proposal is designed to address this national concern by fostering talent in science and encouraging more students to study and enjoy science in a meaningful way. Through planned formative assessment, teachers will enable ....Using diagnostic tests in science as formative assessment to enhance teaching and learning. The success and continuation of science programs in upper secondary school and university is dependent on foundational improvements in science education in lower secondary schools. This proposal is designed to address this national concern by fostering talent in science and encouraging more students to study and enjoy science in a meaningful way. Through planned formative assessment, teachers will enable students in Years 8-10 to think about the science concepts and consider alternative explanations rather than memorise basic facts for a test or examination which are then forgotten. Practical benefits are a large range of valid and reliable tests and a range of teaching approaches for diagnosing student learning difficulties.Read moreRead less
Information seeking, cognition, and individual differences. The public now has access to vast amounts of scientific knowledge and information on the internet and in other new media. Paradoxically, this increasing availability of knowledge has been accompanied by the increasing traction of pseudoscientific misinformation. This project explores the reasons underlying those trends and seeks solutions.
The development of predictive brain function in preschool children. This project aims to track developmental changes in brain activity and connectivity in typically developing three-to-six year-old children. The preschool years are a time of huge change in children's cognitive abilities, but little is known of the corresponding changes in brain function. This work will use child-optimised magnetoencephalography to test the hypothesis that early cognitive development is characterised by refinemen ....The development of predictive brain function in preschool children. This project aims to track developmental changes in brain activity and connectivity in typically developing three-to-six year-old children. The preschool years are a time of huge change in children's cognitive abilities, but little is known of the corresponding changes in brain function. This work will use child-optimised magnetoencephalography to test the hypothesis that early cognitive development is characterised by refinement of the brain's innate ability to generate predictions about the sensory environment. The resulting insights could improve understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.Read moreRead less
Dynamics of word recognition: new insight from the reach-to-touch paradigm. This project will introduce a new behavioural reach-to-touch paradigm for studying basic cognitive processes such as word recognition. The advantage of this paradigm is that it is able to measure cognitive processes moment-by-moment as they unfold over time. This will provide new insights into the temporal dynamics of basic cognitive processing.
Risky Futures: Toward a Computational Process Model of Risky Inter-Temporal Choice. A lot is known about people’s preferences. People like their rewards now. Most would prefer $10 today than $20 in one month. Risk is also unattractive; a certain $10 is more attractive than a 50 per cent chance of receiving $25. Surprisingly, much less is known about the interaction between delay and risk. That is, relatively little is known about whether people prefer $10 now, or a 50 per cent chance of $50 in ....Risky Futures: Toward a Computational Process Model of Risky Inter-Temporal Choice. A lot is known about people’s preferences. People like their rewards now. Most would prefer $10 today than $20 in one month. Risk is also unattractive; a certain $10 is more attractive than a 50 per cent chance of receiving $25. Surprisingly, much less is known about the interaction between delay and risk. That is, relatively little is known about whether people prefer $10 now, or a 50 per cent chance of $50 in one month. This project will use a combination of experiments and cognitive modelling to examine all three types of choice. The outcome will be a novel computational model that will elucidate the complex interaction between delay and risk, thereby answering an enduring question in the literature: are risk and delay psychologically equivalent?Read moreRead less
Unifying decisions from experience and description. The project aims to answer an enduring question: are separate theories required for decisions from experience and description? For some decisions, potential outcomes and probabilities are known – a gamble offering a 10 per cent chance to win $100 or a 90 per cent chance of nothing, for example. For many others, there is no ‘look-up table’ of probabilities and outcomes and so we must learn them via experience. Intriguingly, risky choices made on ....Unifying decisions from experience and description. The project aims to answer an enduring question: are separate theories required for decisions from experience and description? For some decisions, potential outcomes and probabilities are known – a gamble offering a 10 per cent chance to win $100 or a 90 per cent chance of nothing, for example. For many others, there is no ‘look-up table’ of probabilities and outcomes and so we must learn them via experience. Intriguingly, risky choices made on the basis of described or experienced information differ markedly. This project examines why this divergence occurs. The project plans to test an innovative approach that unifies both types of decisions into a single theoretical framework and provides a suite of empirical and modelling results.Read moreRead less
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
Toward a unified account of adaptive decision making: learning to search, stop and decide. The quality of decision making, our own and those with influence over us is a fundamental concern. The centrality of this issue means that it is crucial to understand the cognitive processes underlying human decision making. This project will deliver new insights into these processes and make key recommendations for improving decision making.
How do people make uncertain predictions? Exemplar-based and category-based approaches to inductive inference. This project is an innovative experimental and field study of how people reason under uncertainty. The project will broaden our understanding of human reasoning and enhance the reputation of Australian cognitive science.
How are beliefs altered by data? Robust Bayesian models for human inductive learning. This project applies state of the art mathematical models to study how people think and reason, and how we can make good guesses about the future. The goal is to understand how the human mind can operate so effectively in real environments, when even the most powerful computers struggle to handle the complexities of everyday learning problems.