Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100433
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$365,058.00
Summary
Cortical layer specific functional imaging of the human brain. This project aims to record layer specific cortical activity in humans by leveraging ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging. It expects to yield robust techniques for the general analysis of neuroimaging-based, layer-specific measurements. This project will progress the fields of cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging as well as bring the field of neuroimaging closer to that of neurophysiology and thus facilitate collaboration ....Cortical layer specific functional imaging of the human brain. This project aims to record layer specific cortical activity in humans by leveraging ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging. It expects to yield robust techniques for the general analysis of neuroimaging-based, layer-specific measurements. This project will progress the fields of cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging as well as bring the field of neuroimaging closer to that of neurophysiology and thus facilitate collaboration among researchers.Read moreRead less
Relationship of retinal directionality to human retinal anatomy variations. This project aims to improve measurement of retinal directionality, which is the reduction in brightness when a light beam’s entry into the human eye is shifted from the centre to the edge of the pupil. This influences retinal image quality and can be used to measure changes in shape of the peripheral eye. This project will apply advanced technologies in holography, and heads-up displays to explore how retinal directiona ....Relationship of retinal directionality to human retinal anatomy variations. This project aims to improve measurement of retinal directionality, which is the reduction in brightness when a light beam’s entry into the human eye is shifted from the centre to the edge of the pupil. This influences retinal image quality and can be used to measure changes in shape of the peripheral eye. This project will apply advanced technologies in holography, and heads-up displays to explore how retinal directionality changes during accommodation (focusing). The expected outcome is improved understanding of retinal stretching changes during focusing. The benefit is that the project will lead to advancements in retinal imaging.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101159
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$420,556.00
Summary
Understanding the role of hemispheric communication in the human brain. A crucial question in cognitive neuroscience regards how humans integrate perceptual information to understand and interact with our environment. This project aims to identify neural processes that operate competitively and cooperatively within the left and right hemispheres to understand how the human brain integrates information for perception. This project expects to generate new insight into the nature of hemispheric com ....Understanding the role of hemispheric communication in the human brain. A crucial question in cognitive neuroscience regards how humans integrate perceptual information to understand and interact with our environment. This project aims to identify neural processes that operate competitively and cooperatively within the left and right hemispheres to understand how the human brain integrates information for perception. This project expects to generate new insight into the nature of hemispheric communication and perceptual decision making. This should provide significant benefits by understanding how the two brain hemispheres process different visual information yet communicate efficiently to allow seamless interface with the world.Read moreRead less
Understanding the neural basis of gaze behaviour in the human brain. Selecting where to look is a necessary step in human vision that is vital for guiding social behaviours. For example, although we inadvertently look toward faces in our environment, especially faces expressing emotion, we do not know how this is accomplished. This project aims to define the mechanisms responsible for detecting and prioritising faces in the human brain. The results are expected to advance our understanding of ho ....Understanding the neural basis of gaze behaviour in the human brain. Selecting where to look is a necessary step in human vision that is vital for guiding social behaviours. For example, although we inadvertently look toward faces in our environment, especially faces expressing emotion, we do not know how this is accomplished. This project aims to define the mechanisms responsible for detecting and prioritising faces in the human brain. The results are expected to advance our understanding of how vision operates in daily life, and augment theories of how the prioritisation of social cues might differ in people living with Anxiety disorders. It is anticipated that the project outcomes will also inform the development of artificial vision systems that can interpret social meaning in visual environments.
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Novel psychophysical paradigms for examining predictive coding in vision. Human vision is shaped by predictive signals in the brain. Despite a century of speculation, we do not know how this interplay is implemented - particularly during natural viewing. This project will establish and validate new psychophysical protocols for investigating predictive coding in human vision. Experiments will involve natural viewing and eye tracking, so results will generalize to real-life. Studies will seek to c ....Novel psychophysical paradigms for examining predictive coding in vision. Human vision is shaped by predictive signals in the brain. Despite a century of speculation, we do not know how this interplay is implemented - particularly during natural viewing. This project will establish and validate new psychophysical protocols for investigating predictive coding in human vision. Experiments will involve natural viewing and eye tracking, so results will generalize to real-life. Studies will seek to clarify how predictions are formed and signalled. This could inform future developments in artificial intelligence, as that cutting edge technology continues to be informed by our understanding of predictive coding in human vision.Read moreRead less
Nurturing Australia's Little Multilingual Minds. Despite its substantial multilingual capacity of more than 300 languages, Australia has been described as a 'graveyard for languages'. In partnering with community organisations we will facilitate polyglot early learning, commencing with Spanish and Vietnamese. Expected outcomes are a deep understanding of multilingual families’ experiences, a model to support lifespan multilingual education, and openly-accessible database of child language in her ....Nurturing Australia's Little Multilingual Minds. Despite its substantial multilingual capacity of more than 300 languages, Australia has been described as a 'graveyard for languages'. In partnering with community organisations we will facilitate polyglot early learning, commencing with Spanish and Vietnamese. Expected outcomes are a deep understanding of multilingual families’ experiences, a model to support lifespan multilingual education, and openly-accessible database of child language in heritage languages. Benefits include a pivotal contribution to early childhood education with the creation of a tailor-made, principle-based program, which will enhance children’s academic achievement, familial social and mental wellbeing, and cultural and economic opportunities for all Australians. Read moreRead less
Using visual science to reduce the dangers of night driving. This project aims to develop novel tests of visual function relevant to the modern night driving environment. Night driving is challenging for all drivers and has been linked to poor visibility under low light conditions. This project will characterise the visual challenges of the modern night driving environment, develop visual tests that incorporate the dynamic light levels typical of night-time roads and assess the association of th ....Using visual science to reduce the dangers of night driving. This project aims to develop novel tests of visual function relevant to the modern night driving environment. Night driving is challenging for all drivers and has been linked to poor visibility under low light conditions. This project will characterise the visual challenges of the modern night driving environment, develop visual tests that incorporate the dynamic light levels typical of night-time roads and assess the association of these tests with night driving performance. The outcomes will contribute new knowledge regarding dynamic visual processing and the ageing visual system and will inform vision testing, potential interventions to improve visual function for night driving and reduce the dangers of night driving.Read moreRead less
How the brain produces speech: Neuronal oscillations to neuromodulation. Speech is crucial for facilitating human communication through language, yet there is a lack of clarity about where, when and what type of activity occurs in the brain during key stages of production. This project will use intracranial recordings to characterise neuronal oscillations in combination with direct electrical stimulation, functional neuroimaging and non-invasive brain stimulation to establish critical areas and ....How the brain produces speech: Neuronal oscillations to neuromodulation. Speech is crucial for facilitating human communication through language, yet there is a lack of clarity about where, when and what type of activity occurs in the brain during key stages of production. This project will use intracranial recordings to characterise neuronal oscillations in combination with direct electrical stimulation, functional neuroimaging and non-invasive brain stimulation to establish critical areas and their timecourses with millisecond resolution. The outcome will be a better theoretical account of the brain mechanisms involved in spoken production. The benefit of this new theoretical account will be a better basis for prevention of post-surgical language impairment and neuromodulatory treatments after brain injury.Read moreRead less
A more sound approach to the neurobiology of language. How does the brain attain spoken language? Current neurobiological models assume either implicitly or explicitly that there is no relationship between a word's sound and its meaning. Yet considerable evidence shows this strong assumption about the arbitrariness of language is invalid. This project will use a combination of behavioural, neuroimaging and computational studies to characterise how the brain processes statistical regularities in ....A more sound approach to the neurobiology of language. How does the brain attain spoken language? Current neurobiological models assume either implicitly or explicitly that there is no relationship between a word's sound and its meaning. Yet considerable evidence shows this strong assumption about the arbitrariness of language is invalid. This project will use a combination of behavioural, neuroimaging and computational studies to characterise how the brain processes statistical regularities in sound-to-meaning correspondences as probabilistic cues to attain spoken language. The outcome will be a better neural account of language comprehension and production. The benefit of this new account will be a stronger basis for assessment and treatment of developmental and acquired language impairments.Read moreRead less
Voices of Regional Australia: The linguistic patterning of local attachment. This project aims to investigate language and social dynamics among regional Australians, who, despite representing one third of the population, have been often neglected in the research to date. The project expects to generate new knowledge around regional attachment and the impact that has on speech patterns, adapting for the first time recently developed international metrics to the Australian context. Expected outco ....Voices of Regional Australia: The linguistic patterning of local attachment. This project aims to investigate language and social dynamics among regional Australians, who, despite representing one third of the population, have been often neglected in the research to date. The project expects to generate new knowledge around regional attachment and the impact that has on speech patterns, adapting for the first time recently developed international metrics to the Australian context. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of models of language change across urban and rural areas, and a novel dataset recording the stories of regional Australians, and in particular, their experiences facing bushfire. This should provide significant benefits as a record of life, language and community in regional Australia.Read moreRead less