Missing the big picture: Global form perception from infancy to adolescence. There is hardly another system, either biological or artificial, that surpasses the visual system in its ability to process extremely complex and dynamic information. The questions concerning developmental aspects of this ability have been one of the most fascinating in both philosophical and scientific inquiry. This research will provide insights of theoretical significance to the perceptual bases of cognitive developm ....Missing the big picture: Global form perception from infancy to adolescence. There is hardly another system, either biological or artificial, that surpasses the visual system in its ability to process extremely complex and dynamic information. The questions concerning developmental aspects of this ability have been one of the most fascinating in both philosophical and scientific inquiry. This research will provide insights of theoretical significance to the perceptual bases of cognitive development. The research proposed will enhance international collaboration and strengthen Australia's strong reputation in vision research. It also contributes to national research training by offering honours and PhD students research training and international exposure.
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Developing and testing a mnemonic theory of odour perception. This project studies how odours are perceived and remembered. Its theoretical framework is a model of olfaction containing a central assumption that past experience of an odour determines how it is perceived and how well it can be discriminated from other odours. Thus, the project tests predictions that discrimination between odours depends on age and on culture-specific experience, as well as other aspects of the model, like discre ....Developing and testing a mnemonic theory of odour perception. This project studies how odours are perceived and remembered. Its theoretical framework is a model of olfaction containing a central assumption that past experience of an odour determines how it is perceived and how well it can be discriminated from other odours. Thus, the project tests predictions that discrimination between odours depends on age and on culture-specific experience, as well as other aspects of the model, like discrete memory systems, imagery and different ways of learning about odours. The project's outcome will be its integration of odour perception, learning and memory, into the first comprehensive information-processing model of human olfaction. Read moreRead less
SPECTRAL TILT: DO INFANTS KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR THEM? This project falls within the National Research Priorities, giving children 'a healthy start to life'. The research is important economically because it will lay the groundwork for the informed design of hearing aid frequency responses based on empirical research, and give infants the opportunity to be fitted with hearing aids amplified for infants, not adults as is the current unsatisfactory practice. Moreover, the cross fertilisation of meth ....SPECTRAL TILT: DO INFANTS KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR THEM? This project falls within the National Research Priorities, giving children 'a healthy start to life'. The research is important economically because it will lay the groundwork for the informed design of hearing aid frequency responses based on empirical research, and give infants the opportunity to be fitted with hearing aids amplified for infants, not adults as is the current unsatisfactory practice. Moreover, the cross fertilisation of methods and knowledge that the collaborators bring to this grant should provide outcomes that will help maintain attention on Australia as a site of cutting edge research into hearing impairment, hearing aid development and use.Read moreRead less