Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100790
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$419,308.00
Summary
Understanding how the brain combines sensory information. The ease with which we perceive the external world belies the complexity involved in integrating different sensory inputs. How does the brain achieve this fundamental operation? The project will address this question using a multidisciplinary approach that combines computational modelling, brain imaging, and psychophysical techniques. The expected outcomes of the project are a better understanding of how people perceive the world through ....Understanding how the brain combines sensory information. The ease with which we perceive the external world belies the complexity involved in integrating different sensory inputs. How does the brain achieve this fundamental operation? The project will address this question using a multidisciplinary approach that combines computational modelling, brain imaging, and psychophysical techniques. The expected outcomes of the project are a better understanding of how people perceive the world through optimal integration of sensory cues. In addition to advancing basic scientific knowledge, the findings will illuminate perceptual anomalies in normally developing children and will provide a foundation for reducing a debilitating side effect of virtual reality systems known as ‘cybersickness’.Read moreRead less
Pathways to social cohesion and social change: opinion-based groups and the dynamic formation of identities. This project will update the understanding of political conflict by exploring groups based around shared opinions. It will show that groups are likely to be more successful in their political campaigns when they tie their causes to national and other positive identifies.
Predicting Behaviour from Brain Representations. This project aims to advance our understanding of how perceptual information is represented in the human brain and to link the structure of perceptual brain representations to human behaviour. The project plans to use complementary methods for recording brain activity (human neuroimaging and primate single-cell neurophysiology) and cutting-edge analytic techniques to generate a predictive model of behaviour based on the structure of perceptual bra ....Predicting Behaviour from Brain Representations. This project aims to advance our understanding of how perceptual information is represented in the human brain and to link the structure of perceptual brain representations to human behaviour. The project plans to use complementary methods for recording brain activity (human neuroimaging and primate single-cell neurophysiology) and cutting-edge analytic techniques to generate a predictive model of behaviour based on the structure of perceptual brain representations. It is anticipated that the results will significantly advance the field of cognitive neuroscience by providing a novel empirical framework for understanding how brain representations are predictive of behaviour.Read moreRead less
Adaptation and after effects in perception of tactile motion. This project investigates sensory properties of the skin covering the human hand, focusing on the ability to perceive how surfaces move across the palm when objects are handled or explored. This project aims to elucidate sensory information processing, leading to applications in diagnostics of neurological disorders and robotics.
Australian Laureate Fellowships - Grant ID: FL160100108
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,409,738.00
Summary
How the brain creates a sense of auditory space. How the brain creates a sense of auditory space. Spatial hearing is necessary for locating the source of a sound, and critical for communication in noisy listening conditions. The object of this project is to determine how the mammalian brain, including in human listeners, represents sensitivity to interaural time differences, one of the two binaural cues, and how this representation is transformed from the brainstem to the cortex. Anticipated out ....How the brain creates a sense of auditory space. How the brain creates a sense of auditory space. Spatial hearing is necessary for locating the source of a sound, and critical for communication in noisy listening conditions. The object of this project is to determine how the mammalian brain, including in human listeners, represents sensitivity to interaural time differences, one of the two binaural cues, and how this representation is transformed from the brainstem to the cortex. Anticipated outcomes include a coherent model of binaural hearing that links cellular, systems and perceptual investigations, and an understanding of the human auditory brain that should facilitate novel technologies and interventions to improve hearing function.Read moreRead less
Parallel and generative binding in human visual cortex. Imagine watching a group of children running around in brightly coloured T-shirts. How does your brain keep track of which colour goes with which T-shirt goes with which child? This project will use magnetic resonance imaging to identify where in our brains information about colour, shape and motion gets put together.
Understanding and improving sustained attention under vigilance conditions. This project aims to address a major global challenge caused by technological advances: human operators have to monitor computer-control (e.g., in autonomous vehicles, rail and airtraffic control) but sustaining attention is very difficult under these conditions. Developing innovative behavioural and neural methods, this internationally collaborative project bridges basic and applied science to understand lapses of atten ....Understanding and improving sustained attention under vigilance conditions. This project aims to address a major global challenge caused by technological advances: human operators have to monitor computer-control (e.g., in autonomous vehicles, rail and airtraffic control) but sustaining attention is very difficult under these conditions. Developing innovative behavioural and neural methods, this internationally collaborative project bridges basic and applied science to understand lapses of attention under monitoring conditions. It creates a novel intervention, based on brain activity patterns, to improve performance. Outcomes will increase our neural understanding of attention and lay a foundation for a novel system to detect lapses of attention in high-risk environments, preventing errors before they occur.Read moreRead less
A new look at perceptual expertise: the attentional Gestalt framework. This project aims to propose and rigorously test a new, mechanistic framework for understanding how training and experience alters our capacity to perceive and engage in skilled visual processing. The project intends to explain why trained visual experts often rapidly perceive things that elude novices. Expected outcomes of the project include new knowledge about the key mechanistic features that underlie skilled visual perfo ....A new look at perceptual expertise: the attentional Gestalt framework. This project aims to propose and rigorously test a new, mechanistic framework for understanding how training and experience alters our capacity to perceive and engage in skilled visual processing. The project intends to explain why trained visual experts often rapidly perceive things that elude novices. Expected outcomes of the project include new knowledge about the key mechanistic features that underlie skilled visual performance. Intended benefits of this knowledge include the development of artificial systems and improved training environments to facilitate and enhance human expert visual processing.Read moreRead less
Neuronal and behavioural correlates of sensory adaptation. Sensory systems adapt to the statistics of their environment, and the consequences of this adaptation are evident in neuronal activity and in animal’s behaviour. This project will employ a novel paradigm to characterise how adaptation changes the response properties of individual sensory neurons to improve efficiency of information transmission.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100969
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,998.00
Summary
The impact of expertise on visual processing: assessment of a new model. How is it that trained visual experts see things that elude most of us when looking at the same stimulus? This project proposes and tests a new theoretical framework for understanding how experience changes perception, with implications for optimising visual training programs that can contribute to public health and safety.