To flee or not to flee: surviving on incomplete information. Even lowly animals, like the Australian fiddler crabs we will be investigating, are surprisingly competent in making the right decisions in complex situations. They actively acquire information and make good use of it to assure their immediate safety and their long term gains. Animals are exquisitely honed by evolution and we would benefit greatly by understanding what makes them so competent: on a theoretical level, we may learn about ....To flee or not to flee: surviving on incomplete information. Even lowly animals, like the Australian fiddler crabs we will be investigating, are surprisingly competent in making the right decisions in complex situations. They actively acquire information and make good use of it to assure their immediate safety and their long term gains. Animals are exquisitely honed by evolution and we would benefit greatly by understanding what makes them so competent: on a theoretical level, we may learn about efficient rules of good decision making and on a practical level, we may be able to design more flexible, robust and clever machines. Besides being useful in this wider context, the results of our research will thus also contribute to a new and 'sophisticated' appreciation of the cognitive design of animal.Read moreRead less
Moving between day and night: Navigational strategies and foraging costs of temporal niche partitioning. This study involves fundamental research to identify the navigational strategies and the foraging cost in animals that occupy different temporal niches. It will make use of the unique research opportunities in Australia, by working with endemic fauna that allows scientists to address questions that would otherwise be hard to answer. The project will introduce the novel technique of differenti ....Moving between day and night: Navigational strategies and foraging costs of temporal niche partitioning. This study involves fundamental research to identify the navigational strategies and the foraging cost in animals that occupy different temporal niches. It will make use of the unique research opportunities in Australia, by working with endemic fauna that allows scientists to address questions that would otherwise be hard to answer. The project will introduce the novel technique of differential GPS to track the paths of ants which has the potential to revolutionise the field of insect navigation. Salience-dependent navigational strategies analysed in this study will be of great interest in the field of engineering and robotics.Read moreRead less
Moving to be seen: a comprehensive analysis of movement-based signal design. Papers on visual motion processing and animal signal design regularly feature in major journals, and the programs of international conferences. We can thus be confident that theoretical advances will attract international attention. We will develop further state-of-the-art methods in motion analysis, with our overall approach likely to serve as a framework for future research programs, although our techniques will have ....Moving to be seen: a comprehensive analysis of movement-based signal design. Papers on visual motion processing and animal signal design regularly feature in major journals, and the programs of international conferences. We can thus be confident that theoretical advances will attract international attention. We will develop further state-of-the-art methods in motion analysis, with our overall approach likely to serve as a framework for future research programs, although our techniques will have applications outside of biology. In addition, we will learn much about the social behaviour of a group of native reptiles about which relatively little is known. Research on the social behaviour of animals is readily comprehended by non-specialists and plays an important role in attracting young people to careers in science.Read moreRead less
The Role Of Corticothalamic Feedback On The Response Dynamics Of Thalamic Neurons
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$351,852.00
Summary
A fundamental question in neuroscience is how the brain selectively processes sensory information to generate a reliable representation of the world. Positioned in the centre of the brain, the thalamus plays a key role in sensory processing. This project investigates how the interaction between thalamus and cortex shapes the selection and gating of sensory information. This is a fundamental question in basic neuroscience with the potential to increase our knowledge about attentional deficits.
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354726
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
NETVISION: AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL VISION RESEARCH NETWORK. Vision is the most important human sense. Visual malfunctions pose major health challenges. Vision provides a window into the brain, for studying perception, cognition and consciousness. It is integral to human cultural and social development. It provides opportunities for technological advances in diagnostics, artificial vision, robotics, and surveillance. Vision is therefore crucial to three of the National Priority Areas. The National V ....NETVISION: AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL VISION RESEARCH NETWORK. Vision is the most important human sense. Visual malfunctions pose major health challenges. Vision provides a window into the brain, for studying perception, cognition and consciousness. It is integral to human cultural and social development. It provides opportunities for technological advances in diagnostics, artificial vision, robotics, and surveillance. Vision is therefore crucial to three of the National Priority Areas. The National Vision Network will create a coherent, interactive and innovative research base in the vision sciences, linked to end-users in areas ranging from the art, entertainment and fashion industries, through health and education, to border protection and counter-terrorism.Read moreRead less
Suction pipette measurements of mammalian rod photoreceptor recovery following intense bleaching exposures. The aim of this project is to discover the events and processes that prevent retinal photoreceptors from recovering instantaneously following the cessation of exposure to extremely bright illumination. Recordings will be made from single rod photoreceptors cells isolated from the mammalian retina. The work will uncover the relative roles of the 'photoproducts' created when rhodopsin abso ....Suction pipette measurements of mammalian rod photoreceptor recovery following intense bleaching exposures. The aim of this project is to discover the events and processes that prevent retinal photoreceptors from recovering instantaneously following the cessation of exposure to extremely bright illumination. Recordings will be made from single rod photoreceptors cells isolated from the mammalian retina. The work will uncover the relative roles of the 'photoproducts' created when rhodopsin absorbs light: e.g. intermediates such as metarhodopsin and opsin. The molecular knowledge obtained will help us to understand why it is that the visual system recovers so slowly after the eye has experienced very intense light.Read moreRead less
The first stage of vision: transduction and adaptation in retinal photoreceptors. The project aims to provide a detailed understanding of the molecular steps involved in the first stage of vision - the conversion of light into a neural signal in the rod and cone photoreceptors of the retina. The significance of this is that it will explain the initial events that enable us to see, and will help explain the deficits that occur when the process fails. The outcome will be a comprehensive understand ....The first stage of vision: transduction and adaptation in retinal photoreceptors. The project aims to provide a detailed understanding of the molecular steps involved in the first stage of vision - the conversion of light into a neural signal in the rod and cone photoreceptors of the retina. The significance of this is that it will explain the initial events that enable us to see, and will help explain the deficits that occur when the process fails. The outcome will be a comprehensive understanding of how our photoreceptors respond with extreme sensitivity, yet great rapidity, and over an enormous range of light intensities, thus endowing us with our remarkable sense of vision.Read moreRead less
Coding of olfactory information in the piriform cortex. This project aims to understand how electrical activity in the primary olfactory (piriform) cortex enables mice to recognise and remember odours. By using optical recording techniques together with genetic tools, the project expects to generate new knowledge about how the mammalian brain builds internal representations of the external world. Specific outcomes of the project include new insights into the functional architecture of the pirifo ....Coding of olfactory information in the piriform cortex. This project aims to understand how electrical activity in the primary olfactory (piriform) cortex enables mice to recognise and remember odours. By using optical recording techniques together with genetic tools, the project expects to generate new knowledge about how the mammalian brain builds internal representations of the external world. Specific outcomes of the project include new insights into the functional architecture of the piriform cortex and fresh understanding of how olfactory information is encoded and stored in neural circuits. More broadly, the project aims to advance our understanding of how the brain works, with benefits for future improvements in artificial intelligence and brain-machine interfaces.Read moreRead less
How human vision separately determines object and scene motion. This project aims to enhance understanding of how people process visual scenes containing multiple moving objects of interest. The project intends to measure human visual performance to determine how the brain processes multiple motion signals simultaneously. Expected outcomes include an increased understanding of how we are able to use an evolving visual scene to distinguish between changes due to self-motion and those due to the m ....How human vision separately determines object and scene motion. This project aims to enhance understanding of how people process visual scenes containing multiple moving objects of interest. The project intends to measure human visual performance to determine how the brain processes multiple motion signals simultaneously. Expected outcomes include an increased understanding of how we are able to use an evolving visual scene to distinguish between changes due to self-motion and those due to the motion of multiple moving objects such as crowded city footpaths and busy roads. The results will improve our understanding of failures to see moving objects in challenging viewing conditions (for example, high density traffic), and inform work in the design of autonomous driving and augmented reality display systems.Read moreRead less
Peripheral and central mechanisms of sensory coding and integration. The research described in this proposal seeks to provide generic answers to fundamental questions about sensory processes, the nature of perceptual experience, and how these are subserved by the nervous system. The study of inter-sensory interactions in perception has the potential to be incorporated into the development of virtual reality-type computer-based technologies. The neurophysiology research will provide basic informa ....Peripheral and central mechanisms of sensory coding and integration. The research described in this proposal seeks to provide generic answers to fundamental questions about sensory processes, the nature of perceptual experience, and how these are subserved by the nervous system. The study of inter-sensory interactions in perception has the potential to be incorporated into the development of virtual reality-type computer-based technologies. The neurophysiology research will provide basic information that has the potential to deepen our understanding, and even enhance possible treatment, of neurological conditions that involve sensory systems.Read moreRead less