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Foundations for a Cognitive Biology. Understanding cognition has important implications for individual and social wellbeing and thus for the nation's economic health. Until the many disciplines concerned with cognition can effectively integrate their disparate findings, public investment in cognitive research will not yield benefits to its potential. The project aims to produce a coherent model of cognition that will facilitate new cross-disciplinary approaches to research, thereby improving Aus ....Foundations for a Cognitive Biology. Understanding cognition has important implications for individual and social wellbeing and thus for the nation's economic health. Until the many disciplines concerned with cognition can effectively integrate their disparate findings, public investment in cognitive research will not yield benefits to its potential. The project aims to produce a coherent model of cognition that will facilitate new cross-disciplinary approaches to research, thereby improving Australia's means of promoting and maintaining healthy cognitive function and treating cognitive dysfunction.Read moreRead less
The Evolution of Embodied Intelligence. The aim of the project is to write a collaborative monograph that integrates the recent development in cognitive science of alternatves to classical cognitivism with recent developments in evolutionary biology. Those developments include in particular the recognition of the importance both of non-genetic inheritence and of the role agents play in constructing their own environments. The monograph will argue that these evolutionary processes are of particul ....The Evolution of Embodied Intelligence. The aim of the project is to write a collaborative monograph that integrates the recent development in cognitive science of alternatves to classical cognitivism with recent developments in evolutionary biology. Those developments include in particular the recognition of the importance both of non-genetic inheritence and of the role agents play in constructing their own environments. The monograph will argue that these evolutionary processes are of particular importance in human evolution, and they are the key to explaining how it is that humans are simulataneously encultured beings and biological agents.Read moreRead less
Postgenomic perspectives on human nature. The rapid growth of biological knowledge and the need for societal reflection on this knowledge and its applications in Australia and overseas make it increasingly urgent that the humanities and social sciences draw on a biologically credible vision of human nature. We will study how non-scientists understand human nature and compare their ideas to those of scientists from a range of different disciplines. We will examine what current biology reveals abo ....Postgenomic perspectives on human nature. The rapid growth of biological knowledge and the need for societal reflection on this knowledge and its applications in Australia and overseas make it increasingly urgent that the humanities and social sciences draw on a biologically credible vision of human nature. We will study how non-scientists understand human nature and compare their ideas to those of scientists from a range of different disciplines. We will examine what current biology reveals about the biological basis of human characteristics and develop an account of human nature that is defensible in the light of that knowledge.Read moreRead less
Evolvability and the Evolution of Complexity. Anyone engaging in a moment's reflection on the striking richness, diversity, and complexity of the biological world is faced with the question: how did it get here? Though natural selection is central to answering this question, important new work has identified various conditions that make some lineages of organisms "evolvable": capable of changing in ways that radically expand the range of further possible changes. This project will clarify and in ....Evolvability and the Evolution of Complexity. Anyone engaging in a moment's reflection on the striking richness, diversity, and complexity of the biological world is faced with the question: how did it get here? Though natural selection is central to answering this question, important new work has identified various conditions that make some lineages of organisms "evolvable": capable of changing in ways that radically expand the range of further possible changes. This project will clarify and integrate these various conditions using empirical examples and simple models. The resulting work from this project will provide a clearer general understanding of what biological complexity is, and how science has compelling candidates for understanding how it evolves.Read moreRead less
Biohumanities: Philosophical, Historical, and Socio-Cultural Studies of Contemporary Bioscience. Improving understanding of the meaning and implications of contemporary bioscience, especially genetics and molecular biology, through bioliterate research in the humanities and social sciences, and conversely through better assimilation of bioscience and its significance by the humanities and social sciences. The research will be conducted in close collaboration with the Australian scientific commun ....Biohumanities: Philosophical, Historical, and Socio-Cultural Studies of Contemporary Bioscience. Improving understanding of the meaning and implications of contemporary bioscience, especially genetics and molecular biology, through bioliterate research in the humanities and social sciences, and conversely through better assimilation of bioscience and its significance by the humanities and social sciences. The research will be conducted in close collaboration with the Australian scientific community and will be disseminated back to the scientific community, to the humanities and to the Australian public. The project will bring to Australia the strengths of the applicant's existing collaborations with leading research centres in this field in the USA, UK and Canada.Read moreRead less
The Evolution of the Social Brain: How Emotions and Moral Judgement Interact in the Generation of Cooperative Behaviour. Understanding the psychological forces that underpin human interactions is a necessary step to knowing how to improve those interactions. Comprehending the complex interplay of emotions and moral judgements lying behind decision-making in the social sphere will help explain such things as corruption, risk-taking, domestic violence, and political affiliation. Such knowledge can ....The Evolution of the Social Brain: How Emotions and Moral Judgement Interact in the Generation of Cooperative Behaviour. Understanding the psychological forces that underpin human interactions is a necessary step to knowing how to improve those interactions. Comprehending the complex interplay of emotions and moral judgements lying behind decision-making in the social sphere will help explain such things as corruption, risk-taking, domestic violence, and political affiliation. Such knowledge can guide the design of effective social policy, and is vital for a realistic educational strategy. This project will strengthen Australia's excellent reputation in philosophy, bring here leading scholars from diverse fields, build international research networks, and in particular forge an ongoing partnership between the ANU and the California Institute of Technology.Read moreRead less
Stimulus fear-relevance: Exploring the boundaries of preferential attentional processing. The present project will contribute to our knowledge about the manner in which emotionally salient events are processed. It will test predictions from a current, influential theory of anxiety and in doing so, inform our understanding of information processing in psychopathology. Investigation of these basic questions can have implications for the design of therapeutic interventions. Moreover, the presen ....Stimulus fear-relevance: Exploring the boundaries of preferential attentional processing. The present project will contribute to our knowledge about the manner in which emotionally salient events are processed. It will test predictions from a current, influential theory of anxiety and in doing so, inform our understanding of information processing in psychopathology. Investigation of these basic questions can have implications for the design of therapeutic interventions. Moreover, the present project will provide the opportunity for research training for undergraduate and post graduate students. In doing so, it will enhance the quality of our culture and contribute to the discipline of psychology.Read moreRead less
Testing the ghost with the machine: Empirical investigations of cognition using high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging. The primary aim of the project is to test hypotheses about the cognitive architecture of word production and negative priming using high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Additional aims/outcomes are to apply a novel fMRI acquisition sequence that permits overt verbal responding with rapid presentation of trials and collection of the time course of t ....Testing the ghost with the machine: Empirical investigations of cognition using high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging. The primary aim of the project is to test hypotheses about the cognitive architecture of word production and negative priming using high-field functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Additional aims/outcomes are to apply a novel fMRI acquisition sequence that permits overt verbal responding with rapid presentation of trials and collection of the time course of the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal, and to further develop a methodology that delineates the logic of making inferences about cognitive systems from functional neuroimaging data. These represent potentially significant developments in the fields of cognitive neuroscience and functional neuroimaging.Read moreRead less
Mechanisms of fear learning and extinction in the mammalian brain. The brain is a remarkable machine that coordinates all aspects of our daily lives including the storage and retrieval of memories. Given that many age-related degenerative disorders are associated with marked changes in learning and memory it also has implications for Australia's National Research Priority 2 "Ageing well and ageing productively". This research aims to discover the basic mechanisms that underlie memory storage an ....Mechanisms of fear learning and extinction in the mammalian brain. The brain is a remarkable machine that coordinates all aspects of our daily lives including the storage and retrieval of memories. Given that many age-related degenerative disorders are associated with marked changes in learning and memory it also has implications for Australia's National Research Priority 2 "Ageing well and ageing productively". This research aims to discover the basic mechanisms that underlie memory storage and how these are modulated in an emotional context. It will also shed light on states such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress, enhancing our ability to identify new therapeutic targets for such disorders.Read moreRead less
How Stenolemus Assassin Bugs Crack Spider Codes. This unique study of sophisticated behavioural flexibility and dynamic sensory exploitation in an insect will provide novel insights into how simple cognitive architecture can be used to solve complex problems. These insights are important for the development of artificial intelligence systems. This will be the first study of flexible aggressive mimicry in an insect and will attract considerable international attention, raise the profile of Austra ....How Stenolemus Assassin Bugs Crack Spider Codes. This unique study of sophisticated behavioural flexibility and dynamic sensory exploitation in an insect will provide novel insights into how simple cognitive architecture can be used to solve complex problems. These insights are important for the development of artificial intelligence systems. This will be the first study of flexible aggressive mimicry in an insect and will attract considerable international attention, raise the profile of Australian science and support numerous students. We will make the first use in Australia of state-of-the-art vibration recording and interactive playback techniques. Making these powerful experimental tools available in Australia will enable other many additional innovative lines of research.Read moreRead less