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How brain oscillations influence our behaviour. This project aims to reveal how sudden, intense stimuli impair or facilitate concurrent actions. Startling sounds can disrupt the execution of movements and distract attention from vital events in the environment, with potential disastrous consequences when handling complex equipment such as airplanes, cars and trucks, or surgical instruments. This project will combine classic experimental and novel neuro-modulatory techniques with the measurement ....How brain oscillations influence our behaviour. This project aims to reveal how sudden, intense stimuli impair or facilitate concurrent actions. Startling sounds can disrupt the execution of movements and distract attention from vital events in the environment, with potential disastrous consequences when handling complex equipment such as airplanes, cars and trucks, or surgical instruments. This project will combine classic experimental and novel neuro-modulatory techniques with the measurement of oscillatory brain activity. Expect outcomes will inform theories of cognitive function and the design of interventions to reduce the negative effects of sudden, distracting events.Read moreRead less
Evaluative learning: do all roads lead to Rome? This project aims to enhance understanding of how likes and dislikes are acquired and changed across a range of different settings. Evaluative learning, the acquisition and change of likes and dislikes, is ubiquitous and occurs in situations that range from trivial to traumatic. However, it is unknown whether evaluative learning in these different situations is mediated by a single or distinct learning mechanisms. Answering this question is critica ....Evaluative learning: do all roads lead to Rome? This project aims to enhance understanding of how likes and dislikes are acquired and changed across a range of different settings. Evaluative learning, the acquisition and change of likes and dislikes, is ubiquitous and occurs in situations that range from trivial to traumatic. However, it is unknown whether evaluative learning in these different situations is mediated by a single or distinct learning mechanisms. Answering this question is critically important for emotion science and the design of effective interventions for anxiety disorders and public health campaigns. The expected outcomes from this project will provide significant benefits, such as creating new knowledge to assist in applied areas ranging from the design of public health messages to the treatment for anxiety.Read moreRead less
The emotional face: What determines preferential expression processing. The processing of facial expressions of emotion is essential for successful social functioning. However, we still lack a good understanding of key factors that facilitate or impede the processing of these important social signals. The current project aims to address this knowledge gap by providing a) a more rigorous test of the currently dominant account of expression processing, the evaluative congruence account, and deline ....The emotional face: What determines preferential expression processing. The processing of facial expressions of emotion is essential for successful social functioning. However, we still lack a good understanding of key factors that facilitate or impede the processing of these important social signals. The current project aims to address this knowledge gap by providing a) a more rigorous test of the currently dominant account of expression processing, the evaluative congruence account, and delineating how b) contextual factors and c) person knowledge affect expression processing. The research aims to advance our understanding of facial expression processing, to build international collaborations, and to train the next generation of emotion scientists.Read moreRead less
The emotional face. The recognition of emotional facial expressions is essential for successful social functioning. This project will determine how information concerning facial expressions is encoded by the human brain, providing potential insight into situations where this process can fail, such as in old age or autism.
The role of early testosterone and brain laterality in language development. The aim of the project is to provide key insights into how foetal hormone exposure and early brain growth support child language. The specialisation of the left cerebral hemisphere for language function is considered critical to supporting the complexity of human language. There is evidence of sex differences in patterns of brain specialisation, which has led to popular but unsubstantiated hypotheses linking prenatal te ....The role of early testosterone and brain laterality in language development. The aim of the project is to provide key insights into how foetal hormone exposure and early brain growth support child language. The specialisation of the left cerebral hemisphere for language function is considered critical to supporting the complexity of human language. There is evidence of sex differences in patterns of brain specialisation, which has led to popular but unsubstantiated hypotheses linking prenatal testosterone and language development. The project aims to explore this by using innovative neuroimaging, endocrine and genetic techniques to track neurodevelopment longitudinally from prenatal life to three years of age. An important aspect of the project is the anticipated refinement of innovative methods for measuring early human development.Read moreRead less
Memory consolidation - Integrating cognitive science and neuroscience approaches to how we remember and how we forget. How can we forget what happened yesterday, but vividly remember our first kiss? Neuroscientists think the brain has a special mechanism to strengthen memories with time, but many psychologists disagree. The project aims to bring the brain and the mind closer together, using the cutting-edge combination of brain imaging and psychological modelling.
Maturation of the brain and the development of cognitive abilities. This project aims to develop techniques for measuring the growing brain. We will use these techniques to determine how the growing brain influences a child's intellectual ability and to answer an important question - do areas of the brain mature at the same or different rates and what influence does that have on the development of specific abilities such as language and reasoning? An answer to this question will make an import ....Maturation of the brain and the development of cognitive abilities. This project aims to develop techniques for measuring the growing brain. We will use these techniques to determine how the growing brain influences a child's intellectual ability and to answer an important question - do areas of the brain mature at the same or different rates and what influence does that have on the development of specific abilities such as language and reasoning? An answer to this question will make an important contribution to our theoretical understanding of developmental disorders. Moreover, given the influence of intellectual development on life prospects, it is important to understand how early brain development impacts on a child's ability to learn.Read moreRead less
The emotional face: Effects on orienting, visual search, and categorization. The processing of facial expressions of emotion is essential for successful social functioning however our understanding of how these important signals are processed and of the factors which may impede appropriate processing is lacking. Using a range of converging methodologies drawn from neuroscience, social, and cognitive psychology, this project aims to advance our understanding of the processing of the expressions o ....The emotional face: Effects on orienting, visual search, and categorization. The processing of facial expressions of emotion is essential for successful social functioning however our understanding of how these important signals are processed and of the factors which may impede appropriate processing is lacking. Using a range of converging methodologies drawn from neuroscience, social, and cognitive psychology, this project aims to advance our understanding of the processing of the expressions of two central social emotions, happiness and anger, by delineating the conditions that support or limit it in the general population. This research aims to provide an invaluable knowledge base for subsequent applied research into deficits of emotional expression processing such as occur in autism, anxiety, or old age.Read moreRead less
The extinction of human fear. Excessive fear negatively impacts the lives of many Australians - so how can we increase the effectiveness of exposure based treatments to reduce human fear? The present basic research will investigate the process thought to underlie exposure-based treatments, extinction of human fear learning, in order to answer this applied question.
Multidimensional autistic traits and attention in healthy adults. This project aims to develop a new, comprehensive measure of six major dimensions of autistic traits in healthy adults. High levels of autistic traits are associated with atypical patterns of attention in healthy adults. However autistic traits are multidimensional, with some dimensions weakly correlated, and few studies have assessed sensory sensitivity, a key trait dimension. This project will investigate the specific relationsh ....Multidimensional autistic traits and attention in healthy adults. This project aims to develop a new, comprehensive measure of six major dimensions of autistic traits in healthy adults. High levels of autistic traits are associated with atypical patterns of attention in healthy adults. However autistic traits are multidimensional, with some dimensions weakly correlated, and few studies have assessed sensory sensitivity, a key trait dimension. This project will investigate the specific relationships of autistic traits to key attentional phenomena including left-visual-field bias, attention to detail at the expense of integrative processing, and the attraction of attention to emotional stimuli. Linking behavioural and cognitive features of autistic traits will inform models of the development of autism.Read moreRead less