Cortical topology underlying the representation and analysis of visual scenes. When we look around us we seem to perceive our visual surroundings fully, accurately and instantaneously. Despite this strong impression, recent research has revealed that none of this is true. Using virtual environments, brain imaging and neural network simulations, this project aims to discover more about what we do see, which part of our brain stores what we see, and how this storage takes place. The work has the p ....Cortical topology underlying the representation and analysis of visual scenes. When we look around us we seem to perceive our visual surroundings fully, accurately and instantaneously. Despite this strong impression, recent research has revealed that none of this is true. Using virtual environments, brain imaging and neural network simulations, this project aims to discover more about what we do see, which part of our brain stores what we see, and how this storage takes place. The work has the potential to influence the design of danger signs, teleoperated and virtual displays and autonomous machines. It should also help motivate new treatments and rehabilitation regimes for stroke victims.Read moreRead less
Advancing the science of willpower: investigating the mechanisms and processes of self-control. Willpower or 'good' self control is important for success in our academic, occupational, and social lives. This project will use cutting-edge scientific methods to investigate how glucose, the primary fuel for body function, promotes 'good' self-control and stimulates regions in the brain important for self-control.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101290
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Age-related reorganisation of cortical networks subserving memory retrieval. This research project will use brain imaging to understand how the brain reorganises working memory when it ages. It will provide a framework for understanding age-related memory decline in the brain, which will in turn provide key information for understanding memory difficulties in clinical populations.
Talking with Robots: Evolving Grounded Language for Embodied Agents. The coming personal robot revolution will be built on robots that have real-world intelligence, with an ability to understand and communicate about the world in the way we humans do. This project extends a previous ARC project, which developed robot-friendly languages for naming places in the world. This new project will develop the robots' abilities and language to understand a comprehensive range of real world objects, places ....Talking with Robots: Evolving Grounded Language for Embodied Agents. The coming personal robot revolution will be built on robots that have real-world intelligence, with an ability to understand and communicate about the world in the way we humans do. This project extends a previous ARC project, which developed robot-friendly languages for naming places in the world. This new project will develop the robots' abilities and language to understand a comprehensive range of real world objects, places, actions, attributes and relationships. This project represents a major advance for Australia in the new and fast growing personal robot industry.Read moreRead less
Enhancing Intelligent Robot Navigation with the Evolution of a Robot-Friendly Language. Personal robots are set to become as popular as personal computers. The key ingredient that has been missing is intelligence - not the kind of intelligence that plays chess, but the kind that allows robots to understand the world in the way that we humans do. This project represents a major advance in that kind of intelligence, giving robots the ability to understand the world and the ability to communicate a ....Enhancing Intelligent Robot Navigation with the Evolution of a Robot-Friendly Language. Personal robots are set to become as popular as personal computers. The key ingredient that has been missing is intelligence - not the kind of intelligence that plays chess, but the kind that allows robots to understand the world in the way that we humans do. This project represents a major advance in that kind of intelligence, giving robots the ability to understand the world and the ability to communicate about their experiences. Armed with this new technology, Australia will have a competitive edge in the new and fast growing personal robot industry.Read moreRead less
Robot Navigation From Nature: Simultaneous Localisation And Mapping Based On Hippocampal Models. This project will create a new method of robot control that allows a robot to learn a map of any area and then navigate using that map. The new method is based on ideas from recent models of rodent brains.
The resulting improvements in robot navigation offer immediate benefits to the emerging service robot industry. In addition, the act of reproducing a high-level brain function in a robot will inc ....Robot Navigation From Nature: Simultaneous Localisation And Mapping Based On Hippocampal Models. This project will create a new method of robot control that allows a robot to learn a map of any area and then navigate using that map. The new method is based on ideas from recent models of rodent brains.
The resulting improvements in robot navigation offer immediate benefits to the emerging service robot industry. In addition, the act of reproducing a high-level brain function in a robot will increase the understanding of memory and learning in mammals, including humans. Consequently, the outcomes of this research will benefit both robot designers and brain researchers.
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Signaling Pathways To Enhance Potency Of AMPK-targeting Drugs
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$661,966.00
Summary
Sedentary lifestyles and consumption of high energy foods has led to epidemics of obesity-related metabolic diseases that place enormous financial and medical burden on the Australian economy. An attractive drug target to treat these diseases is AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) which functions as both a cellular fuel gauge and co-ordinator of whole-body metabolism. Our goal is to improve AMPK drug potency by identifying novel processes that sensitize AMPK to drugs.
Cortical regulation of attentional capture. The proposed experiments examine how brain mechanisms interact to determine whether a stimulus will capture our attention, distracting us from the task at hand. The experiments test competing theories of attentional control and have implications for clinical populations (for example, stroke) that have difficulty avoiding distraction.
Corpus callosum function in decision making. This project aims to investigate how the major connection between the two brain hemispheres (called the corpus callosum) is involved in higher cognitive functions such as decision making, learning, knowledge updating, and performance optimisation. New knowledge will be generated in the area of human cognition by combining computational theory with measures of cognition and brain MRI. Expected outcomes are to develop and advance computational models o ....Corpus callosum function in decision making. This project aims to investigate how the major connection between the two brain hemispheres (called the corpus callosum) is involved in higher cognitive functions such as decision making, learning, knowledge updating, and performance optimisation. New knowledge will be generated in the area of human cognition by combining computational theory with measures of cognition and brain MRI. Expected outcomes are to develop and advance computational models of human brain function and structure through interdisciplinary collaboration by combing theory and experimentation. Significant benefits will be to advance our understanding of the brain and enhance Australia's scientific capability through training and collaboration.Read moreRead less
Understanding biological pathways underlying social behaviour in humans. This project aims to show for the first time how oxytocin interacts with neural social and reward pathways to guide social behaviour. Oxytocin is a natural neuropeptide and hormone that has a critical role in the regulation of social behaviour across mammalian species. In animals, direct evidence demonstrates how endogenous and exogenous oxytocin interacts with social and reward neural pathways to alter social behaviour, in ....Understanding biological pathways underlying social behaviour in humans. This project aims to show for the first time how oxytocin interacts with neural social and reward pathways to guide social behaviour. Oxytocin is a natural neuropeptide and hormone that has a critical role in the regulation of social behaviour across mammalian species. In animals, direct evidence demonstrates how endogenous and exogenous oxytocin interacts with social and reward neural pathways to alter social behaviour, including social recognition, relationship formation, and long-term bonds. The project intends to use radio-labelling techniques in combination with positron emission tomography to track oxytocin and show what regions of the brain oxytocin impacts to then influence social cognition and behaviour in humans.Read moreRead less