Cognitive Foundations of Fast Decision Making. This project aims to develop a new theory of fast decision making. In all walks of life, from the sports field to the battlefield, fast and accurate decisions are central to human performance. This project will develop and test mathematical models of the processes involved in making decisions with continuous choice sets and decisions requiring integration of multiple sources of information and decisions in which information varies over time. It is e ....Cognitive Foundations of Fast Decision Making. This project aims to develop a new theory of fast decision making. In all walks of life, from the sports field to the battlefield, fast and accurate decisions are central to human performance. This project will develop and test mathematical models of the processes involved in making decisions with continuous choice sets and decisions requiring integration of multiple sources of information and decisions in which information varies over time. It is expected to contribute to our understanding of factors that characterise and limit human performance in settings in which fast and accurate decisions are required. It is expected to benefit the design of systems and environments in which safety and efficiency depend on human decision making.Read moreRead less
Creating perceptual experts in Australia's policing and security agencies. This project aims to create the next generation of experts in Australia’s policing and national security agencies, by improving crime scene evidence interpretation. Agencies are under pressure to develop more rigorous training practices that go beyond mere intuition and tradition. This project will use a novel approach that directs learning toward the most diagnostic perceptual cues. Expected outcomes include a solid empi ....Creating perceptual experts in Australia's policing and security agencies. This project aims to create the next generation of experts in Australia’s policing and national security agencies, by improving crime scene evidence interpretation. Agencies are under pressure to develop more rigorous training practices that go beyond mere intuition and tradition. This project will use a novel approach that directs learning toward the most diagnostic perceptual cues. Expected outcomes include a solid empirical basis for national training programs designed to create experts that are accurate, reliable, and continuously improving. Improving the training of experts will ensure the integrity of forensics as evidentiary tools available to police, lead to more reliable courtroom convictions and help safeguard Australia from terrorism and crime.Read moreRead less
Characterisation and Prevention of Vibration-Induced Drowsiness in Drivers. The present CIs have demonstrated that vibrational frequencies of 4-7 Hz entrain brainwaves associated with the onset of sleep. Our unpublished pilot data show that higher vibrational frequencies can restore alertness. Thus future vehicle design could dampen 3-8Hz vibrations while higher frequency vibrations could counteract drowsiness or stimulate alertness. This project aims to: i) develop novel equivalent drowsiness c ....Characterisation and Prevention of Vibration-Induced Drowsiness in Drivers. The present CIs have demonstrated that vibrational frequencies of 4-7 Hz entrain brainwaves associated with the onset of sleep. Our unpublished pilot data show that higher vibrational frequencies can restore alertness. Thus future vehicle design could dampen 3-8Hz vibrations while higher frequency vibrations could counteract drowsiness or stimulate alertness. This project aims to: i) develop novel equivalent drowsiness contours for the effects of physical vibration on driver drowsiness that will form the basis of a new industry standard for transportation safety; ii) develop an innovative vibration regime to improve alertness. This research will reduce transportation injuries and deaths by enabling the design of safer transport vehicles.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100372
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,536.00
Summary
Understanding the role of self-regulation in moderating distracted driving. The goal of this project is to combine naturalistic driving and simulation methods to explore the role that driver-initiated adaptive behaviour (self-regulation) can play in mitigating the effects of distraction on driving performance and safety. Driver distraction is a growing threat to road safety worldwide, contributing to approximately one-quarter of all crashes. Distraction is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon and, ....Understanding the role of self-regulation in moderating distracted driving. The goal of this project is to combine naturalistic driving and simulation methods to explore the role that driver-initiated adaptive behaviour (self-regulation) can play in mitigating the effects of distraction on driving performance and safety. Driver distraction is a growing threat to road safety worldwide, contributing to approximately one-quarter of all crashes. Distraction is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon and, despite its impact on safety, our understanding of it is far from complete. The project aims to develop and assess a set of new countermeasures designed to enhance drivers’ self-regulatory behaviour when distracted. The outcomes of the project may reduce the impact of distraction on road trauma in Australia.Read moreRead less
A statistical decision theory of cognitive capacity. This project aims to investigate the limited capacity of the human cognitive system to form representations of the things in the world around us and to make decisions about them in real time. Its goal is to provide an integrated theory of cognitive capacity based on the statistical properties of cognitive representations and the decision processes that act on them. Its expected outcome will be a unified metric for cognitive capacity that will ....A statistical decision theory of cognitive capacity. This project aims to investigate the limited capacity of the human cognitive system to form representations of the things in the world around us and to make decisions about them in real time. Its goal is to provide an integrated theory of cognitive capacity based on the statistical properties of cognitive representations and the decision processes that act on them. Its expected outcome will be a unified metric for cognitive capacity that will allow us to quantify how cognitive load affects the speed and accuracy of decision making. It will benefit the design and evaluation of high workload real-time decision systems and will contribute to the selection and training of users of such systems.
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Neural plasticity in older adult human vision. This project aims to expand our understanding of age related changes in brain function, specifically plasticity. The project will increase knowledge of the role of an inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA in visual plasticity. Expected outcomes include new knowledge regarding the regulation of brain function in adulthood, enabling future research and planning for societal benefit to older Australia.
The brain in real-time: predicting the present, reconstructing the past. This proposal aims to understand how the brain compensates for its own internal delays to function in real-time. Because it takes time for information from the senses to reach the brain, it takes time for us to become aware of an event that occurs in the outside world. This project will use an innovative combination of techniques to study how prediction and reconstruction mechanisms work together in the brain. Expected outc ....The brain in real-time: predicting the present, reconstructing the past. This proposal aims to understand how the brain compensates for its own internal delays to function in real-time. Because it takes time for information from the senses to reach the brain, it takes time for us to become aware of an event that occurs in the outside world. This project will use an innovative combination of techniques to study how prediction and reconstruction mechanisms work together in the brain. Expected outcomes of this project include a fundamental understanding of how we function in the present. This should provide significant benefits, such as an important theoretical advance in our understanding of how conscious awareness is realised in the brain, placing Australia at the cutting edge.Read moreRead less
Neurobiological mechanisms of the interaction between pain and sleep. The project aims to reveal the brain mechanisms behind the interaction between such fundamental biological phenomena as sleep and pain. This highly interdisciplinary project expects to deliver significant insights into how poor sleep changes the brain to increase pain sensitivity in healthy adults, by combining novel lab-based mechanistic sleep and pain manipulations and naturalistic longitudinal observation. The rich multimod ....Neurobiological mechanisms of the interaction between pain and sleep. The project aims to reveal the brain mechanisms behind the interaction between such fundamental biological phenomena as sleep and pain. This highly interdisciplinary project expects to deliver significant insights into how poor sleep changes the brain to increase pain sensitivity in healthy adults, by combining novel lab-based mechanistic sleep and pain manipulations and naturalistic longitudinal observation. The rich multimodal dataset generated by the project will be made publicly available to enhance research transparency and international collaboration. This should provide significant benefits, ultimately opening up ways to improve quality of life and wellbeing of the Australian population.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101108
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$352,000.00
Summary
The ups and downs of visuospatial attention. The brain has a remarkable capacity to provide a coherent experience of the world by seamlessly integrating sights and sounds from different locations. It is only after brain damage, or when faced with a high attentional load, that our limitations become apparent. The project aims to investigate these limitations by determining how spatial location influences attention in relation to distractibility, cross-modal input and emotionality. Eye tracking an ....The ups and downs of visuospatial attention. The brain has a remarkable capacity to provide a coherent experience of the world by seamlessly integrating sights and sounds from different locations. It is only after brain damage, or when faced with a high attentional load, that our limitations become apparent. The project aims to investigate these limitations by determining how spatial location influences attention in relation to distractibility, cross-modal input and emotionality. Eye tracking and physiological measures of arousal will be combined with traditional cognitive measures to provide a deeper understanding of spatial attention. This project aims to improve attentional models and develop innovative strategies to increase safety by decreasing inattention and distraction.Read moreRead less
The neural dynamics of real-time processing in the brain. The aim of this project is to investigate a new model for predictive coding of sensory processing in the brain in which the brain compensates for the time delays in neural transmission by maintaining a real-time temporal alignment of the neural activity. This results in a representation of sensory information that is aligned in time across the cortex, offering a new fundamental principle for how the brain functions in a highly dynamic wor ....The neural dynamics of real-time processing in the brain. The aim of this project is to investigate a new model for predictive coding of sensory processing in the brain in which the brain compensates for the time delays in neural transmission by maintaining a real-time temporal alignment of the neural activity. This results in a representation of sensory information that is aligned in time across the cortex, offering a new fundamental principle for how the brain functions in a highly dynamic world whose outcomes would provide a deeper understanding of brain function. It could also have profound significance for artificial intelligence and brain-inspired technologies, as well as benefit neural sensory prostheses and brain-machine interfaces.Read moreRead less