Stuttering in childhood: Patterns of recovery and persistence. This project will benefit the 1 in 20 Australian children who stutter and their families. We will learn for the first time how stuttering impacts on child development in the early school years and document the relationship between stuttering and other childhood conditions. The study will produce much needed information about recovery from stuttering and stuttering persistence. Therefore new knowledge will result to inform the scienti ....Stuttering in childhood: Patterns of recovery and persistence. This project will benefit the 1 in 20 Australian children who stutter and their families. We will learn for the first time how stuttering impacts on child development in the early school years and document the relationship between stuttering and other childhood conditions. The study will produce much needed information about recovery from stuttering and stuttering persistence. Therefore new knowledge will result to inform the scientific community and provide professionals and families with much needed evidence-based information about stuttering progression. Together this information will inform intervention approaches and help direct resources to those children who need them most. Read moreRead less
A study of early stuttering. Stuttering affects 1 in 20 Australian children. Stuttering disrupts and prevents normal verbal communication, significantly interferes with social interaction and can affect the attainment of educational and occupational potential. Australia leads the world in stuttering research. This innovative study will document the onset of stuttering and describe its progression, an area that is not well described or understood. This project will contribute new knowledge about ....A study of early stuttering. Stuttering affects 1 in 20 Australian children. Stuttering disrupts and prevents normal verbal communication, significantly interferes with social interaction and can affect the attainment of educational and occupational potential. Australia leads the world in stuttering research. This innovative study will document the onset of stuttering and describe its progression, an area that is not well described or understood. This project will contribute new knowledge about the onset of stuttering thereby benefiting children worldwide and their families. It will inform clinical practice and improve the evidence underpinning the advice given to parents of children who stutter.Read moreRead less
The language abilities of young offenders: Missing links in theory and practice.. Young offenders are a complex and challenging population, with high rates of comorbidity between attentional, learning, and behaviour problems. Few workers have, however, considered the underlying language processing and production skills in this population. Available evidence indicates a high level of vulnerability to language disorders in young offenders. These may contribute to poor academic performance and fail ....The language abilities of young offenders: Missing links in theory and practice.. Young offenders are a complex and challenging population, with high rates of comorbidity between attentional, learning, and behaviour problems. Few workers have, however, considered the underlying language processing and production skills in this population. Available evidence indicates a high level of vulnerability to language disorders in young offenders. These may contribute to poor academic performance and failure to develop prosocial skills. This study will explore language competencies and will describe their relationship to social skills, patterns of comorbidity, and type of offence (property Vs violent). Findings will be relevant to theories of juvenile offending and design of prevention/intervention programsRead moreRead less
Using visual science to reduce the dangers of night driving. This project aims to develop novel tests of visual function relevant to the modern night driving environment. Night driving is challenging for all drivers and has been linked to poor visibility under low light conditions. This project will characterise the visual challenges of the modern night driving environment, develop visual tests that incorporate the dynamic light levels typical of night-time roads and assess the association of th ....Using visual science to reduce the dangers of night driving. This project aims to develop novel tests of visual function relevant to the modern night driving environment. Night driving is challenging for all drivers and has been linked to poor visibility under low light conditions. This project will characterise the visual challenges of the modern night driving environment, develop visual tests that incorporate the dynamic light levels typical of night-time roads and assess the association of these tests with night driving performance. The outcomes will contribute new knowledge regarding dynamic visual processing and the ageing visual system and will inform vision testing, potential interventions to improve visual function for night driving and reduce the dangers of night driving.Read moreRead less
Functional imaging of colour pathways in the living eye. In order to repair or regenerate a diseased eye, we require knowledge of the normal pattern or nerve cell connections, and knowing how biology solves the problem of colour vision can be used to improve the design of artificial vision systems. The adaptive optics machine we will build in this project can be used to image nerve cells, fine blood vessels, and nerve fibre bundles in the normal and diseased eye. This will improve Australia's re ....Functional imaging of colour pathways in the living eye. In order to repair or regenerate a diseased eye, we require knowledge of the normal pattern or nerve cell connections, and knowing how biology solves the problem of colour vision can be used to improve the design of artificial vision systems. The adaptive optics machine we will build in this project can be used to image nerve cells, fine blood vessels, and nerve fibre bundles in the normal and diseased eye. This will improve Australia's research and development capacity in this new area of medical diagnostics. Our machine will be made available to other Australian laboratories and will improve the national capacity for making further scientific discoveries about how the visual system works.Read moreRead less
Centre-surround interactions in ageing human vision. Australia has a rapidly ageing population. This project will study how ageing affects the visual perception of objects presented on non-uniform backgrounds. Our ability to discriminate objects from their backgrounds is key to most natural visual tasks. The visual processes involved are known as centre-surround interactions, and are considered fundamental building blocks to human perception. This project will significantly advance our knowledge ....Centre-surround interactions in ageing human vision. Australia has a rapidly ageing population. This project will study how ageing affects the visual perception of objects presented on non-uniform backgrounds. Our ability to discriminate objects from their backgrounds is key to most natural visual tasks. The visual processes involved are known as centre-surround interactions, and are considered fundamental building blocks to human perception. This project will significantly advance our knowledge of which spatial visual mechanisms are altered due to age, supplying key information for understanding and improving visual environments for the elderly, as well as increasing knowledge of the brain mechanisms susceptible to the ageing process.Read moreRead less
Central Representation of Electroacoustic Stimuli. Cochlear implantation, initially only provided to profoundly deaf individuals, is now routine in people with substantial residual hearing. Although stimulation via a cochlear implant and hearing aid in the same ear has been shown to improve speech understanding, particularly in noise, and to increase the aesthetic quality of sound, almost nothing is known about the physiological mechanisms underlying these benefits. The broad aim of our project ....Central Representation of Electroacoustic Stimuli. Cochlear implantation, initially only provided to profoundly deaf individuals, is now routine in people with substantial residual hearing. Although stimulation via a cochlear implant and hearing aid in the same ear has been shown to improve speech understanding, particularly in noise, and to increase the aesthetic quality of sound, almost nothing is known about the physiological mechanisms underlying these benefits. The broad aim of our project is to address this deficiency by measuring the patterns of neural activity evoked by speech sounds across the tonotopic axis in the inferior colliculus and auditory cortex and assess the extent to which the pattern of neural activity allows discrimination between the different speech sounds.Read moreRead less
Future neural electrodes: probing the electrical activity of nerves using 3D graphene networks. This research aims to develop a totally new type of neural electrode that will for the first time, allow reliable and long-term stimulation and recording. The approach incorporates graphene based biomaterials with tunable electrical and biological properties within supportive three-dimensional cellular microenvironments, greatly enhancing the electrical interactions between cells and the electrode. Th ....Future neural electrodes: probing the electrical activity of nerves using 3D graphene networks. This research aims to develop a totally new type of neural electrode that will for the first time, allow reliable and long-term stimulation and recording. The approach incorporates graphene based biomaterials with tunable electrical and biological properties within supportive three-dimensional cellular microenvironments, greatly enhancing the electrical interactions between cells and the electrode. The electrical properties of nerve cells will be probed using our three-dimensional graphene network, providing insight into the the brain-machine interface. This project is important as it directly addresses the inherent limitations of current electrode designs.Read moreRead less
Novel mechanisms for regulating the retinal vasculature. Tight control of the retinal vasculature is crucial for maintaining normal vision. Unlike most blood vessels in the body, those in the retina and brain receive no direct neural control. Rather they rely on support cells to communicate the needs of neurons. This project aims to examine the mechanisms by which resident immune cells, called microglia, regulate retinal capillaries in response to neural activity. New knowledge examining a novel ....Novel mechanisms for regulating the retinal vasculature. Tight control of the retinal vasculature is crucial for maintaining normal vision. Unlike most blood vessels in the body, those in the retina and brain receive no direct neural control. Rather they rely on support cells to communicate the needs of neurons. This project aims to examine the mechanisms by which resident immune cells, called microglia, regulate retinal capillaries in response to neural activity. New knowledge examining a novel mechanism will be generated. This information is crucial for enhancing our understanding of how blood vessels are controlled in the retina and brain and will guide the development of novel ways of examining blood vessel function.Read moreRead less
Neural Activity Shaping for Retinal and Cochlear Implants. This project aims to develop methods to control and optimise the spatial patterns of neural activity evoked by neural prostheses in order to improve the resolution of neuroprostheses. A major problem for neural prostheses is that the electrical current used to stimulate neurons causes a diffuse spread of activity in the neural tissue, which limits the resolution of the device. For patients this translates into limitations in sound qualit ....Neural Activity Shaping for Retinal and Cochlear Implants. This project aims to develop methods to control and optimise the spatial patterns of neural activity evoked by neural prostheses in order to improve the resolution of neuroprostheses. A major problem for neural prostheses is that the electrical current used to stimulate neurons causes a diffuse spread of activity in the neural tissue, which limits the resolution of the device. For patients this translates into limitations in sound quality, in the case of cochlea implants, or visual acuity, for retinal implants. The outcome of the project will be algorithms that optimally choose the currents on each electrode so as to shape neural activity at the finer resolution of electrode spacing rather than the coarser resolution of current spread.Read moreRead less