How the brain generates robust behaviour in noisy sensory environments. This project aims to investigate the origins of variability in the control of movements. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of sensory and motor neuroscience by determining how variability in the activity of sensory and motor neurons accounts for variability in the initiation and control of eye movements. Expected outcomes of this project include international collaboration, development of new methods ....How the brain generates robust behaviour in noisy sensory environments. This project aims to investigate the origins of variability in the control of movements. This project expects to generate new knowledge in the area of sensory and motor neuroscience by determining how variability in the activity of sensory and motor neurons accounts for variability in the initiation and control of eye movements. Expected outcomes of this project include international collaboration, development of new methods for imaging neural activity in vivo, and refinement of theories concerning the cause and implications of noise in the brain. This should provide significant benefits such as a better understanding of why our movements are variable, and whether it is desirable or possible to minimise this variability. Read moreRead less
Oscillations as a mechanism for neural communication. The project aims to answer how billions of cells in the brain can work together to allow us to perceive the world. By using novel electrophysiological and engineering techniques, the project tests if a brain signal called the local field potential provides a way for different areas in the brain to communicate. The hypothesis is that the local field potential is used by cells to synchronise their activity to be most effective. This project wou ....Oscillations as a mechanism for neural communication. The project aims to answer how billions of cells in the brain can work together to allow us to perceive the world. By using novel electrophysiological and engineering techniques, the project tests if a brain signal called the local field potential provides a way for different areas in the brain to communicate. The hypothesis is that the local field potential is used by cells to synchronise their activity to be most effective. This project would be a paradigm shift in how we currently understand how the brain works. Expected outcomes include answering long held questions about how we see and perceive the world. This should provide significant benefit to fields such as computer vision and the development of neural engineering devices.Read moreRead less
Building a visual world: how brain circuits create and use representations. This project aims to demonstrate the presence, computation, and use of an invariant representation for texture structure. The proposed approach is interdisciplinary and combines image analysis, electrophysiology, optogenetics and computational modelling.
Expected outcomes of this project include learning how neurons encode properties of natural images, defining a novel computational tool for analysis of textures, and ne ....Building a visual world: how brain circuits create and use representations. This project aims to demonstrate the presence, computation, and use of an invariant representation for texture structure. The proposed approach is interdisciplinary and combines image analysis, electrophysiology, optogenetics and computational modelling.
Expected outcomes of this project include learning how neurons encode properties of natural images, defining a novel computational tool for analysis of textures, and new knowledge of how multiple brain areas work together to represent the visual world. This should provide significant benefits for the development of artificial visual systems, and impact on brain research broadly by increasing the number of tools available to predict complex representations at the cellular level.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
Adaptation of respiratory chemoreception: role of inhibitory neuropeptides. The project aims to investigate how the retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN) is involved in respiratory adaptation to hypercapnia. Chemoreceptor neurons in the RTN are crucial for life however, the mechanisms that underlie their basal and stimulated activity, to control breathing, remain to be clarified. This project will investigate the role of galanin in RTN-mediated regulation of breathing. The project looks to determine inst ....Adaptation of respiratory chemoreception: role of inhibitory neuropeptides. The project aims to investigate how the retrotrapezoid nucleus (RTN) is involved in respiratory adaptation to hypercapnia. Chemoreceptor neurons in the RTN are crucial for life however, the mechanisms that underlie their basal and stimulated activity, to control breathing, remain to be clarified. This project will investigate the role of galanin in RTN-mediated regulation of breathing. The project looks to determine instructive and multifunctional roles of peptidergic chemosensory neurons and their contribution to local inhibitory control of the respiratory network. New knowledge from the project may in the future assist translational research into respiratory disorders and lead to technological advances.Read moreRead less
Neuronal origin of functional maps on the mammalian visual cortex. This project aims to study how the brain processes images. Basic features of objects in the visual scene seem to be coded on the visual cortex in an orderly way. By recording neurones’ electrical activity in a mammalian brain, this project aims to study how such organisation is determined at the neuronal level, namely how the individual nerves and synapses that form the brain and process the signals are organised to form the over ....Neuronal origin of functional maps on the mammalian visual cortex. This project aims to study how the brain processes images. Basic features of objects in the visual scene seem to be coded on the visual cortex in an orderly way. By recording neurones’ electrical activity in a mammalian brain, this project aims to study how such organisation is determined at the neuronal level, namely how the individual nerves and synapses that form the brain and process the signals are organised to form the overall functional architecture visible at a macroscopic level. This understanding could realise the basis of normal visual perception in robotic vision and brain-machine interfaces.Read moreRead less
‘Super-human’ colour vision: how does it improve animal visual performance? Colour vision enables animals to find food, attract mates and avoid predators. Many animals, including fish, birds and insects, have ‘super-human’ colour vision systems and process colour using 4 or 5 spectral channels, instead of our 3. Yet we do not know how information is combined across these different channels to achieve colour vision. This project will develop new technology to measure UV vision in a range of anima ....‘Super-human’ colour vision: how does it improve animal visual performance? Colour vision enables animals to find food, attract mates and avoid predators. Many animals, including fish, birds and insects, have ‘super-human’ colour vision systems and process colour using 4 or 5 spectral channels, instead of our 3. Yet we do not know how information is combined across these different channels to achieve colour vision. This project will develop new technology to measure UV vision in a range of animal taxa, and show how animals with 4 or 5 spectral channels integrate or partition visual information to perceive colour. The Fellowship will provide new biological models for the development of next-generation multispectral cameras used in medical, military, security and remote sensing applications.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100620
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$424,856.00
Summary
Phenotypic plasticity of reef fish vision in a changing world. This project aims to investigate why fishes have more colour vision channels than any other vertebrate on the planet by studying representatives from the most vibrant ecosystem on earth, the Great Barrier Reef. It is currently not clear how vision is controlled on the molecular level and how this translates to the performance and survival of an animal. Through an innovative approach to understanding colour vision and animal behaviour ....Phenotypic plasticity of reef fish vision in a changing world. This project aims to investigate why fishes have more colour vision channels than any other vertebrate on the planet by studying representatives from the most vibrant ecosystem on earth, the Great Barrier Reef. It is currently not clear how vision is controlled on the molecular level and how this translates to the performance and survival of an animal. Through an innovative approach to understanding colour vision and animal behaviour, this project expects to advance Australia’s leadership in neuroscience and ecology, while also increasing the capacity for international collaborations. Beyond the scientific benefit, it will create public awareness about an endangered ecosystem, inform reef guardianship and may inspire new sensory technology.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100136
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$385,288.00
Summary
The influence of naturalistic context on visual short-term memory. This project aims to understand visual short-term memory in natural visual environments using a combination of behavioural and brain data. Visual short-term memory is thought to be critical to complex cognitive tasks such as learning and problem solving, but how low-level image context and high-level semantic information influence short-term memory is poorly understood. This project will use advanced computational image processin ....The influence of naturalistic context on visual short-term memory. This project aims to understand visual short-term memory in natural visual environments using a combination of behavioural and brain data. Visual short-term memory is thought to be critical to complex cognitive tasks such as learning and problem solving, but how low-level image context and high-level semantic information influence short-term memory is poorly understood. This project will use advanced computational image processing tools, neuro-imaging, and psychophysical experiments to provide a comprehensive analysis of short-term memory in naturalistic images. The expected outcome is a better understanding of the neural bottlenecks that limit short-term memory, and a model that predicts memory constraints in natural visual environments.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