Risky Futures: Toward a Computational Process Model of Risky Inter-Temporal Choice. A lot is known about people’s preferences. People like their rewards now. Most would prefer $10 today than $20 in one month. Risk is also unattractive; a certain $10 is more attractive than a 50 per cent chance of receiving $25. Surprisingly, much less is known about the interaction between delay and risk. That is, relatively little is known about whether people prefer $10 now, or a 50 per cent chance of $50 in ....Risky Futures: Toward a Computational Process Model of Risky Inter-Temporal Choice. A lot is known about people’s preferences. People like their rewards now. Most would prefer $10 today than $20 in one month. Risk is also unattractive; a certain $10 is more attractive than a 50 per cent chance of receiving $25. Surprisingly, much less is known about the interaction between delay and risk. That is, relatively little is known about whether people prefer $10 now, or a 50 per cent chance of $50 in one month. This project will use a combination of experiments and cognitive modelling to examine all three types of choice. The outcome will be a novel computational model that will elucidate the complex interaction between delay and risk, thereby answering an enduring question in the literature: are risk and delay psychologically equivalent?Read moreRead less
From fluid intelligence to crystallised expertise: an integrative Bayesian approach. Intelligence is correlated with learning but uncorrelated with most aspects of expertise. Why is this so? Why does the role of intelligence diminish as one becomes more expert at a task? This project examines a broad range of cognitive tasks to provide a concise mathematical description of how intelligence relates to expertise.
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.
Cognition, culture, and textual encounters: a study of what cognitive science and the earliest English poetry can do for each other. This project examines, through multidisciplinary tools drawn from cognitive science, how we are able to understand texts written over 1000 years ago, through the cognitive structures and cultural factors that shape meaning. Using cognitive approaches to literature, this study demonstrates the complex interplay of mind, culture, and literary texts.
Information seeking, cognition, and individual differences. The public now has access to vast amounts of scientific knowledge and information on the internet and in other new media. Paradoxically, this increasing availability of knowledge has been accompanied by the increasing traction of pseudoscientific misinformation. This project explores the reasons underlying those trends and seeks solutions.
Ready, steady, go: Infant motor development and cognition. This project aims to examine the changes in and relationships between cognition and motoric abilities during infancy. The project will utilise well-established and innovative measures of memory flexibility and motor development to generate new knowledge about the complex relationship between action, perception, and cognition. The expected outcomes will provide significant benefits such as increased scientific and public knowledge on earl ....Ready, steady, go: Infant motor development and cognition. This project aims to examine the changes in and relationships between cognition and motoric abilities during infancy. The project will utilise well-established and innovative measures of memory flexibility and motor development to generate new knowledge about the complex relationship between action, perception, and cognition. The expected outcomes will provide significant benefits such as increased scientific and public knowledge on early development and an evidence base on the normal stages of infant development, relevant for health policy.Read moreRead less
Poor social functioning in schizophrenia: understanding its causes and developing better treatments. This project will advance knowledge of the thinking processes and the associated neural changes that cause the lifelong social disability which characterises schizophrenia. Findings will, in turn, contribute to better identifying young people, at risk of developing schizophrenia, and inform the design of new interventions and treatments.
A computational and experimental investigation into the organisation of letters in reading. In alphabetical languages, people need to learn to organise individual letters into groups so that they can read efficiently. This project will develop a model of this process, which will allow great insight into this key aspect of reading in terms of what the most efficient way of doing this is and what may go wrong and cause reading problems.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100499
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$393,087.00
Summary
The body in interaction – the impact of tracking the human body on visual object processing. For efficient and safe interactions with the world, our brain needs to constantly process the location and posture of the body as well as the characteristics of surrounding objects. Central questions in the field of cognitive science consider how tracking the human body influences object perception and which mechanisms support this perception in action. This project will use innovative virtual hand techn ....The body in interaction – the impact of tracking the human body on visual object processing. For efficient and safe interactions with the world, our brain needs to constantly process the location and posture of the body as well as the characteristics of surrounding objects. Central questions in the field of cognitive science consider how tracking the human body influences object perception and which mechanisms support this perception in action. This project will use innovative virtual hand technology to investigate the impact of body actions on concurrent visual perception. A better understanding of the demands that the body, in interaction, poses on our perceptual system will help to improve the design of complex work environments, such as computer interfaces and control panels.Read moreRead less
Applying psychological science to prevent prospective memory error in simulations of air traffic control. The outcomes of this research will inform the design of interventions to prevent individuals from forgetting to perform actions in safety-critical work settings, strengthening Australia's reputation for extending basic science to applied domains.