Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0347784
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$130,000.00
Summary
MOVEMENT & COMMUNICATION ANALYSIS LAB & PORTABLE AUDIENCE RESPONSE FACILITY. The equipment establishes an integrated movement analysis laboratory and audience response facility to support and extend ongoing collaborative research projects that investigate human visual and auditory communication through gestures of voice and body. This laboratory will allow recording and analysis of fine and gross motor activity in: caregiver-infant and therapist-client interaction; auditory-visual speech percept ....MOVEMENT & COMMUNICATION ANALYSIS LAB & PORTABLE AUDIENCE RESPONSE FACILITY. The equipment establishes an integrated movement analysis laboratory and audience response facility to support and extend ongoing collaborative research projects that investigate human visual and auditory communication through gestures of voice and body. This laboratory will allow recording and analysis of fine and gross motor activity in: caregiver-infant and therapist-client interaction; auditory-visual speech perception; audience reactions to gesture and dance. The audience response facility, a portable system of small keypads programmed to record discrete and continuous responses, brings precision to recording psychological responses in a naturalistic setting. The combined equipment allows concerted investigation of human communicative gesture.Read moreRead less
Establishing how head and face movement properties contribute to the perception of speech and identity. The proposed studies provide an extensive research program into audio-visual speech processing and person identification: key components of face-to-face communication. The likely impact and benefits of the project concern its contribution to perceptual theory (linking signal, brain and behaviour) and its practical implications: For determining the viability of multimodal biometric identificati ....Establishing how head and face movement properties contribute to the perception of speech and identity. The proposed studies provide an extensive research program into audio-visual speech processing and person identification: key components of face-to-face communication. The likely impact and benefits of the project concern its contribution to perceptual theory (linking signal, brain and behaviour) and its practical implications: For determining the viability of multimodal biometric identification procedures by assessing the distinctiveness and permanence of AV speech characteristics. In the development of a visual dubbing technique that has potential for communication in noisy environments (and for the deaf) and for the development of a morphable model for AV presentation that has application for both first and second language learning.Read moreRead less
The Extinction Of Conditioned Fear And Its Implications For Cue Exposure Therapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$322,430.00
Summary
This project studies extinction of Pavlovian conditioned fear reactions in rats. Extinction of these reactions is an animal model for exposure therapy used in the treatment of anxiety disorders in people. In exposure therapy, the patient, aided by the clinician, confronts trauma-related cues in the absence of any overt danger. The intention of this therapy is to reduce the ability of the trauma-related cues to provoke the fear reactions that are undermining the patient's quality of life. In Pavl ....This project studies extinction of Pavlovian conditioned fear reactions in rats. Extinction of these reactions is an animal model for exposure therapy used in the treatment of anxiety disorders in people. In exposure therapy, the patient, aided by the clinician, confronts trauma-related cues in the absence of any overt danger. The intention of this therapy is to reduce the ability of the trauma-related cues to provoke the fear reactions that are undermining the patient's quality of life. In Pavlovian conditioning, subjects (typically rats) are exposed to a signaling relation between an initially neutral stimulus (e.g., a noise) and a feared outcome (e.g., foot shock). When later repeatedly exposed to the initially neutral but now feared stimulus (the noise) in the absence of the feared outcome, the fear reactions it acquired progressively decline until eventually it fails to elicit any such reactions. The fear reactions are said to have been extinguished. There has been significant progress in understanding the psychological processes and neural mechanisms underlying the acquisition of fear reactions, but much less is known about the processes and mechanisms underlying the extinction of these reactions. The project has two general objectives. The first is to determine the conditions of extinction training that promote long-term loss of fear reactions. The second objective is to determine how the brain controls this extinction of learned fear. Achieving these aims will be significant for two reasons. First, it will contribute to understanding the mechanisms by which animals (including people) learn to adjust their behaviour to bring it into line with the current relations that exist between events in the world. Second, it will provide important information about how such adjustment is facilitated or impaired across extinction training and, thereby, contribute towards understanding both the successes and failures of cue exposure therapy for fear-related disorders.Read moreRead less
Real-time Porosity: Using computer gaming technology to map and analyse pedestrian movement in public and private space. This project will make a major, and ongoing, contribution to our understanding of urban space in a major Australian city. The Porosity Lenses will enable a more complete understanding of pedestrian movement that the Emergency Information Coordination Unit (EICU) believes will directly contribute to protecting Australia from terrorism and crime. In the case of terrorism the soc ....Real-time Porosity: Using computer gaming technology to map and analyse pedestrian movement in public and private space. This project will make a major, and ongoing, contribution to our understanding of urban space in a major Australian city. The Porosity Lenses will enable a more complete understanding of pedestrian movement that the Emergency Information Coordination Unit (EICU) believes will directly contribute to protecting Australia from terrorism and crime. In the case of terrorism the socio/economic benefits of even the smallest success can be immeasurable. The need to anticipate and mitigate the impact of catastrophic events on the city will be balanced, in this study, by a concern to maintain freedom of circulation and promote civic opportunities within previously under-utilised zones.Read moreRead less
Unravelling A New Fatty Acid Pathway Involved In Neuroexocytosis And Memory
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$539,631.00
Summary
This proposal build on the establishment by our laboratory of the assay capable of detecting free fatty acids, with great accuracy and sensitivity. Using this assay we have uncovered a completely new pathway highlighting the production of saturated free fatty acids linked to learning and memory. We will fully define how this pathway is regulated in the brain.
Surfacing urban wetlands in two urban renewal sites in Sydney. Urban wetlands in Australia provide benefits for climate change mitigation, pollution reduction, habitat provision and socioecological connection. However, in large cities like Sydney, urban wetlands are unseen because undergrounded, and, therefore not adequately understood. This illegibility, and loss of understanding by residents, planners and policy makers impedes wetlands' good management. This project surfaces wetlands through v ....Surfacing urban wetlands in two urban renewal sites in Sydney. Urban wetlands in Australia provide benefits for climate change mitigation, pollution reduction, habitat provision and socioecological connection. However, in large cities like Sydney, urban wetlands are unseen because undergrounded, and, therefore not adequately understood. This illegibility, and loss of understanding by residents, planners and policy makers impedes wetlands' good management. This project surfaces wetlands through visualisation in a multimodal knowledge platform focusing on two urban renewal sites, Green Square and Marrickville South. We leverage design ethnography to develop resources for strengthening multiple stakeholders’ socioecological engagement through methods empowering just, creative and open participation.Read moreRead less
Avatars and Identities. The avatar, a virtual representation of its user, is the key element of interface technology for everyday computer use in the twenty-first century. While specialist aspects of the avatar have received intensive attention from the technology industries and scholars, the focus of the work to date has been on the technical efficiency of the interface, rather than understanding the full social implications of its use. Through a historical, ethnographic and critical analysis o ....Avatars and Identities. The avatar, a virtual representation of its user, is the key element of interface technology for everyday computer use in the twenty-first century. While specialist aspects of the avatar have received intensive attention from the technology industries and scholars, the focus of the work to date has been on the technical efficiency of the interface, rather than understanding the full social implications of its use. Through a historical, ethnographic and critical analysis of the role of the avatar, in consultation with industry, this project offers a unique opportunity to develop a wider perspective that will contribute to an understanding of the uses and policies for the digital economy.Read moreRead less
Cognitive Enhancement In Schizophrenia Via Selective Oestrogen Receptor Modulator.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$396,380.00
Summary
Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia is resistant to treatment and related to poor community functioning and quality of life. In spite of the widely appreciated magnitude of the problem, there is still a critical gap in our knowledge concerning treatments to reverse these cognitive deficits. The proposed research is significant because it will clarify the role of hormones and genes in relation to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and it may help patients improve their level of functioning.
Exploring Botanic Gardens Herbarium's value, via Environmental Aesthetics. . The project aims to aesthetically redefine engagement with the plant collection at Royal Botanic Gardens Herbarium (RBG) Sydney and to communicate its artistic, cultural and heritage value to the public through a Public Program of creative arts case studies. It's expected that new insights will arise from an environmental art methodology utilising the digitisation of the Herbarium specimens, so that audiences can intera ....Exploring Botanic Gardens Herbarium's value, via Environmental Aesthetics. . The project aims to aesthetically redefine engagement with the plant collection at Royal Botanic Gardens Herbarium (RBG) Sydney and to communicate its artistic, cultural and heritage value to the public through a Public Program of creative arts case studies. It's expected that new insights will arise from an environmental art methodology utilising the digitisation of the Herbarium specimens, so that audiences can interactively experience the plant archive through narratives that activate plants as underpinning ecosystems. Benefits to partners RBG, Bundanon Trust and Open Humanities Press will include the digital expansion of audience engagement with the Herbarium at RBG and Mt Annan and communication of collection’s significance.Read moreRead less
What is successful public art today?: exploring how contemporary public art and memorial design shapes public engagement, perceptions and behaviour. Much public money is invested in public art and memorials. The research explores critical questions of value: what the public enjoys about such artworks, if and how artworks contribute amenity to public spaces, and whether recent artworks engage effectively with social memory, identity and politics. The research situates local practice within intern ....What is successful public art today?: exploring how contemporary public art and memorial design shapes public engagement, perceptions and behaviour. Much public money is invested in public art and memorials. The research explores critical questions of value: what the public enjoys about such artworks, if and how artworks contribute amenity to public spaces, and whether recent artworks engage effectively with social memory, identity and politics. The research situates local practice within international trends, to inform Australian designers, policymakers, art patrons and public space managers about recent innovations in technology, craft, creativity and critique, so they can create and choose public artworks and memorials which engage with the potentials of contemporary arts practice, the complexities of contemporary culture, and the diversity of social behaviour in public spaces.Read moreRead less