Beyond Speech: Towards better communication for children with hearing loss. Despite the benefits of early newborn hearing screening and early intervention programs for children with hearing loss, most still experience academic and social challenges at school. This is partly due to ongoing listening effort, leading to communicative breakdown. This project aims to identify the locus of the communicative challenges these children face during daily discourse interactions. The outcomes will identify ....Beyond Speech: Towards better communication for children with hearing loss. Despite the benefits of early newborn hearing screening and early intervention programs for children with hearing loss, most still experience academic and social challenges at school. This is partly due to ongoing listening effort, leading to communicative breakdown. This project aims to identify the locus of the communicative challenges these children face during daily discourse interactions. The outcomes will identify which levels of language are most compromised and will inform future interventions to reduce children’s listening effort. This will be undertaken by bringing together researchers in basic science with hearing service providers, parents and industry, providing an innovative model for solving multidisciplinary challenges.Read moreRead less
A behaviour-genetic study of the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results. The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests are designed by educational authorities, are objective, and have been administered Australia-wide since 2008 so are unquestionably the most valuable national database on school achievement available. This project's twin studies of this data will provide a more solid base for public policy debates on educational policy and pr ....A behaviour-genetic study of the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results. The National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests are designed by educational authorities, are objective, and have been administered Australia-wide since 2008 so are unquestionably the most valuable national database on school achievement available. This project's twin studies of this data will provide a more solid base for public policy debates on educational policy and practice.Read moreRead less
When reading takes off: Children's word learning during independent reading. This project aims to address the major unsolved problem of how children build their knowledge about printed words through their reading. This is important since, once children have been taught the basics of reading, the primary means by which they learn new words is through reading experience. The project will use innovative technology to monitor children’s eye movements as they encounter new words during reading, exami ....When reading takes off: Children's word learning during independent reading. This project aims to address the major unsolved problem of how children build their knowledge about printed words through their reading. This is important since, once children have been taught the basics of reading, the primary means by which they learn new words is through reading experience. The project will use innovative technology to monitor children’s eye movements as they encounter new words during reading, examining factors influencing real-time cognitive processing and ongoing learning. Expected outcomes will be new insights into how to optimise children’s word learning when reading, and the refinement of a new computational model. These will inform policy and practice in reading instruction, to the benefit of Australia's children.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180100893
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$366,403.00
Summary
No pain no word gain: toward a new neurobiological account of word learning. This project aims to generate a novel neurobiological account of word learning, going beyond a simple mapping between words and objects and recognising the sensory and socio-communicative embedding of language. Capitalising on interdisciplinary approaches to research, this project will use state-of-the-art neuroimaging to reveal the neural architecture and mechanisms supporting contextualised sensory word learning. The ....No pain no word gain: toward a new neurobiological account of word learning. This project aims to generate a novel neurobiological account of word learning, going beyond a simple mapping between words and objects and recognising the sensory and socio-communicative embedding of language. Capitalising on interdisciplinary approaches to research, this project will use state-of-the-art neuroimaging to reveal the neural architecture and mechanisms supporting contextualised sensory word learning. The results are expected to bring about a paradigm shift in the fields of neurobiology of language and learning, having a profound impact on the practice of language teaching and improvement of language functioning.Read moreRead less
Concepts and control in speech production. While humans produce speech fluently in the course of everyday conversation, comparatively little is understood about the underlying mental processes and brain mechanisms. The overall aim of this project is to investigate how the human brain conceives and controls speech output by using state-of-the-art neuroimaging and brain stimulation techniques. The research aims to contribute novel insights into a key human ability with particular relevance for spe ....Concepts and control in speech production. While humans produce speech fluently in the course of everyday conversation, comparatively little is understood about the underlying mental processes and brain mechanisms. The overall aim of this project is to investigate how the human brain conceives and controls speech output by using state-of-the-art neuroimaging and brain stimulation techniques. The research aims to contribute novel insights into a key human ability with particular relevance for speech disorders such as aphasia, while the methods developed for brain stimulation during imaging of speech production aim to expand Australia's capability and technical innovation in the cognitive neuroscience of language.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
Origins of Phonology and Lexicon: Abstract representations before 6 months. Language is one of the most sophisticated human abilities, yet infants learn it easily. The current view is that the origins of language are abstract representations of consonants and vowels that start to form at 6-10 months. However, recent evidence shows that abstraction begins before 3 months, and that carer-infant conversations are vital to the process. This study involves tracking infants’ behavioural and brain deve ....Origins of Phonology and Lexicon: Abstract representations before 6 months. Language is one of the most sophisticated human abilities, yet infants learn it easily. The current view is that the origins of language are abstract representations of consonants and vowels that start to form at 6-10 months. However, recent evidence shows that abstraction begins before 3 months, and that carer-infant conversations are vital to the process. This study involves tracking infants’ behavioural and brain development from 1 to 18 months and analysing carer-infant speech, to determine how early abstraction supports vocabulary growth, how carer speech assists this process, and what early conditions predict language development, thus benefiting earlier identification of language delay, and saving significantly on later remediation.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101053
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$364,536.00
Summary
Cracking the code of successful language learning. Mastery of a second language generates economic advantages, especially in English-speaking nations with large immigrant populations, such as Australia. It is not clear why some second-language learners flourish while others struggle in the same educational setting. Successful learners must possess attributes that when combined with the features of the learning situation result in positive learning outcomes, whereas unsuccessful learners are like ....Cracking the code of successful language learning. Mastery of a second language generates economic advantages, especially in English-speaking nations with large immigrant populations, such as Australia. It is not clear why some second-language learners flourish while others struggle in the same educational setting. Successful learners must possess attributes that when combined with the features of the learning situation result in positive learning outcomes, whereas unsuccessful learners are likely mismatched to their training method. In a series of artificial language learning experiments, this project aims to identify the combination of factors that matter most in successful language learning. Ultimately it may be possible to tailor training proactively to maximise learning outcomes.Read moreRead less
Children's generalisation and adaptation to unfamiliar regional accents reveal the path of early word learning. This project will use accent variation to probe how normal children, and those with language difficulties (dyslexia and autism), handle the complementary skills of word distinctiveness and word constancy. It will provide important new insights for theories of language development, as well as for early diagnosis and intervention for children with language delays.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100783
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$409,781.00
Summary
Music and speech as a window into the predictive brain . Prediction is fundamental to daily life, and yet we know little about how this central process works in the brain. This research program aims to provide in-depth insight into predictive processing by investigating the precise, culturally relevant, and communicative domains of music and speech. The research expects to reveal cognitive and neural correlates of “what” will occur and “when” it will occur, while exploiting the musician brain as ....Music and speech as a window into the predictive brain . Prediction is fundamental to daily life, and yet we know little about how this central process works in the brain. This research program aims to provide in-depth insight into predictive processing by investigating the precise, culturally relevant, and communicative domains of music and speech. The research expects to reveal cognitive and neural correlates of “what” will occur and “when” it will occur, while exploiting the musician brain as a model for plasticity. Expected outcomes include a multi-dimensional model of prediction and its neural markers that will lay the foundation to investigate impaired predictive processing. This should substantially benefit health and education by providing perspectives for training and rehabilitation.Read moreRead less