Filters reveal what flicker conceals: temporal processing in the human visual system. I have recently discovered a new form of camouflage using 10Hz luminance flicker. This project will quantify this effect and examine the extent to which it generalises across colour and spatial dimensions and to video sequences depicting natural scenes. This information is expected to provide foundational information to technologies relating to national security that rely on visual concealment. This research wi ....Filters reveal what flicker conceals: temporal processing in the human visual system. I have recently discovered a new form of camouflage using 10Hz luminance flicker. This project will quantify this effect and examine the extent to which it generalises across colour and spatial dimensions and to video sequences depicting natural scenes. This information is expected to provide foundational information to technologies relating to national security that rely on visual concealment. This research will examine the extent to which filtering out these camouflaging frequencies enhances our sensitivity to low temporal frequency information. This decamouflaging aspect of my research is expected to improve the clarity of digital video-based technologies including ultrasound, educational, info-tainment and defence applicationsRead moreRead less
Making sense of ambiguity: brain system interactions and visual uncertainty. This project aims to identify and characterise the interactions between brain regions underlying a fundamental process in visual perception: interpreting sensory input that is unclear or ambiguous. It will use two complementary neuroimaging techniques and cutting-edge analysis methods. The intended outcomes include new insights into a fundamental but poorly characterised aspect of brain function: how brain regions inter ....Making sense of ambiguity: brain system interactions and visual uncertainty. This project aims to identify and characterise the interactions between brain regions underlying a fundamental process in visual perception: interpreting sensory input that is unclear or ambiguous. It will use two complementary neuroimaging techniques and cutting-edge analysis methods. The intended outcomes include new insights into a fundamental but poorly characterised aspect of brain function: how brain regions interact, and advanced analysis methods with wide application. Expected benefits include important advances in knowledge that lay foundations for future study of neural disorders, international collaboration, and new methods placing Australia at the forefront of the international effort to understand the human brain. Read moreRead less
Industrial Transformation Training Centres - Grant ID: IC210100019
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$4,583,816.00
Summary
ARC Training Centre for Optimal Ageing. The ARC Training Centre for Optimal Ageing aims to address issues identified by older adults as essential for quality of life. With our industry partners, we aim to train the next generation of researchers to understand, detect and improve psychosocial factors that support mental activity, physical health and social connectedness, and embrace advances in artificial intelligence, digital-enriched environments and adaptive workplaces to deliver effective dig ....ARC Training Centre for Optimal Ageing. The ARC Training Centre for Optimal Ageing aims to address issues identified by older adults as essential for quality of life. With our industry partners, we aim to train the next generation of researchers to understand, detect and improve psychosocial factors that support mental activity, physical health and social connectedness, and embrace advances in artificial intelligence, digital-enriched environments and adaptive workplaces to deliver effective digital solutions. By developing new capacity and capability to drive the digital transformation of industries supporting our ageing population, our Centre seeks to deliver economic and social benefits that enable Australians to live enriched, healthy and independent lives as they age.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.
From autobiographical memory to collective memory: An interdisciplinary study of individual and group cognition. Remembering our past is crucial to our identity and well-being, both as individuals and in groups. Investigating the role of social groups in memory, this project offers 4 benefits: (1) it builds Australia's capacity for high-level, innovative memory research; (2) it pioneers an interdisciplinary approach, genuinely integrating philosophy and psychology, to strengthen Australia's inte ....From autobiographical memory to collective memory: An interdisciplinary study of individual and group cognition. Remembering our past is crucial to our identity and well-being, both as individuals and in groups. Investigating the role of social groups in memory, this project offers 4 benefits: (1) it builds Australia's capacity for high-level, innovative memory research; (2) it pioneers an interdisciplinary approach, genuinely integrating philosophy and psychology, to strengthen Australia's international reputation in these fields; (3) it identifies social supports for healthy remembering, thus 'Promoting and Maintaining Good Health' ('Ageing well, ageing productively'); (4) it offers fresh, sophisticated ways to address public debates about the role of memory in productive, fulfilling lives, 'Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric'.Read moreRead less
Using written language to probe speech recognition models. Speech recognition models fall into two principal classes, with fundamentally different processing architectures. Feedback models (e.g. TRACE, McClelland & Elman, 1986) allow lexical knowledge to exert top-down control over phonemic analysis. Feedforward models (e.g. Merge, Norris, McQueen & Cutler, 2000) assume that information flow is entirely bottom-up. Our project adopts an innovative approach to testing between these model classe ....Using written language to probe speech recognition models. Speech recognition models fall into two principal classes, with fundamentally different processing architectures. Feedback models (e.g. TRACE, McClelland & Elman, 1986) allow lexical knowledge to exert top-down control over phonemic analysis. Feedforward models (e.g. Merge, Norris, McQueen & Cutler, 2000) assume that information flow is entirely bottom-up. Our project adopts an innovative approach to testing between these model classes, by examining the influence of written-word knowledge on speech perception. To distinguish the models, contrasts must test different processing levels and examine strategy effects. TRACE favors broad effects with limited strategic influence; Merge favors lexical effects that are necessarily sensitive to strategic factorsRead moreRead less
Keeping track: The effect of distraction on attention to moving objects. This is basic research with broad societal implications. We constantly balance the attention demands of achieving a goal (e.g., driving) in the midst of competing environmental demands (e.g., attention-grabbing advertising). Billions of dollars are spent trying to make our roads safer, but basic research is critical to inform policy and design. There are three main benefits in identifying distractions that impair performanc ....Keeping track: The effect of distraction on attention to moving objects. This is basic research with broad societal implications. We constantly balance the attention demands of achieving a goal (e.g., driving) in the midst of competing environmental demands (e.g., attention-grabbing advertising). Billions of dollars are spent trying to make our roads safer, but basic research is critical to inform policy and design. There are three main benefits in identifying distractions that impair performance on a task that requires attention to moving objects. It will: (1) develop a method for exploring attention demands on real-world experiences (e.g., driving); (2) inform policy decisions on safer environments; and (3) provide a basis for minimising distractions in environments for people with attentional difficulties.Read moreRead less
Mental imagery and visual working memory. Remembering information “in mind” is severely limited by restrictions in capacity, duration and precision. The limits on capacity and precision in visual working memory remain unclear. Likewise, the search for the neural correlates of visual working memory has produced conflicting results. This proposal will show that the limits in precision, capacity and the neural correlates of visual working memory are driven by visual mental imagery. By showing that ....Mental imagery and visual working memory. Remembering information “in mind” is severely limited by restrictions in capacity, duration and precision. The limits on capacity and precision in visual working memory remain unclear. Likewise, the search for the neural correlates of visual working memory has produced conflicting results. This proposal will show that the limits in precision, capacity and the neural correlates of visual working memory are driven by visual mental imagery. By showing that mental imagery is the missing link to a comprehensive understanding of working memory, This project will show that mental imagery strength limits how much visual information can be held "in mind”. This work will unify two heated scientific debates and produce a complete map of working memory.Read moreRead less
Ready, steady, go: Infant motor development and cognition. This project aims to examine the changes in and relationships between cognition and motoric abilities during infancy. The project will utilise well-established and innovative measures of memory flexibility and motor development to generate new knowledge about the complex relationship between action, perception, and cognition. The expected outcomes will provide significant benefits such as increased scientific and public knowledge on earl ....Ready, steady, go: Infant motor development and cognition. This project aims to examine the changes in and relationships between cognition and motoric abilities during infancy. The project will utilise well-established and innovative measures of memory flexibility and motor development to generate new knowledge about the complex relationship between action, perception, and cognition. The expected outcomes will provide significant benefits such as increased scientific and public knowledge on early development and an evidence base on the normal stages of infant development, relevant for health policy.Read moreRead less