Islands of rocks: geckos as a model system to understand patterns of biodiversity, endemism and speciation in the Kimberley. Australia is renowned for its diversity of lizards, yet a plethora of new "cryptic" gecko species continue to be discovered. The project will densely sample the complex Kimberley to understand the evolution of its geckos, which will shed light on true levels of species diversity and the geological and environmental history of this biodiversity hotspot.
Uncovering the processes underlying human category learning. There is a pervasive belief that complex tasks can somehow be learned via a 'smart' implicit or procedural learning mechanism, which operates independently of memory and attention. This idea has important implications for our understanding of cognition. If true, there seems little point in providing explicit instruction in such tasks, and efforts to do so are, at best, wasted time and, at worst, detrimental to the learning process. Th ....Uncovering the processes underlying human category learning. There is a pervasive belief that complex tasks can somehow be learned via a 'smart' implicit or procedural learning mechanism, which operates independently of memory and attention. This idea has important implications for our understanding of cognition. If true, there seems little point in providing explicit instruction in such tasks, and efforts to do so are, at best, wasted time and, at worst, detrimental to the learning process. This project will provide much-needed scrutiny of this idea and will help not only to re-orient our understanding of how we deal with complex information, but will also highlight issues about data interpretation that are fundamental for the research and wider communities.Read moreRead less
Phylogenomic assessment of conservation priorities in two biodiversity hotspots: the Pilbara and the Kimberley. This project applies new sequencing and analytical methods to measure how much unique genetic diversity is represented in current and planned reserves across two biodiversity hotspots – the Pilbara and Kimberley of north-west Australia. It combines university, museum and conservation agency researchers to improve ongoing conservation planning.
Biodiversity and population genetics of groundwater calcrete ecosystems of central Western Australia. This project will lead to documentation of a unique subterranean ecosystem of world acclaim, representing a significant component of the biodiversity of the Australian arid zone. It will further contribute to sustainable management of groundwater ecosystems and provide information that can be used to predict and monitor how future water use and climate change may impact on these ecosystems. Resu ....Biodiversity and population genetics of groundwater calcrete ecosystems of central Western Australia. This project will lead to documentation of a unique subterranean ecosystem of world acclaim, representing a significant component of the biodiversity of the Australian arid zone. It will further contribute to sustainable management of groundwater ecosystems and provide information that can be used to predict and monitor how future water use and climate change may impact on these ecosystems. Results generated will provide the knowledge base required to improve the efficiency and scientific rigour of the environmental review process for major resource projects, leading to economic benefits to the mining and environmental consultancy industries, and to Australia in general.Read moreRead less
Are two processes one too many? An investigation of the viability of the dual-process model of recognition memory. Memory is the glue that holds together our lives and personal identities. While psychologists are developing better and more sophisticated accounts of how it works, many deep questions remain. The present research examines some of these questions in relation to how memory can be decomposed into its component processes and how we are to understand these processes. An appropriate unde ....Are two processes one too many? An investigation of the viability of the dual-process model of recognition memory. Memory is the glue that holds together our lives and personal identities. While psychologists are developing better and more sophisticated accounts of how it works, many deep questions remain. The present research examines some of these questions in relation to how memory can be decomposed into its component processes and how we are to understand these processes. An appropriate understanding of these questions is vital to the development of interventions (both psychological and pharmacological) designed to halt or even reverse memory decline associated with normal aging and age-associated brain disease (such as Alzheimer disease).Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE210100013
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$600,000.00
Summary
Nyingarn: a platform for primary sources in Australian Indigenous languages. This project aims to build Nyingarn, an online platform of digital text versions of early Australian Indigenous language manuscripts with images of the original documents. There are over a thousand such documents that are foundational to understanding Australia's languages, and Nyingarn makes textual versions, accessions, and navigates such documents, with a means for adding more in future. Expected outcomes of this pro ....Nyingarn: a platform for primary sources in Australian Indigenous languages. This project aims to build Nyingarn, an online platform of digital text versions of early Australian Indigenous language manuscripts with images of the original documents. There are over a thousand such documents that are foundational to understanding Australia's languages, and Nyingarn makes textual versions, accessions, and navigates such documents, with a means for adding more in future. Expected outcomes of this project are accessible sources useful for educational materials, and for understanding the local language, its history, and its relationship to other languages. Nyingarn will provide cutting-edge methods for ingesting, analysing, and presenting these historical materials, both for research and for the general public.Read moreRead less
Investigation of the component distributions of pause duration in spontaneous speech: Constraints for models of language production. We have discovered that the distribution of pause durations in spontaneous speech of individual speakers can be decomposed into at least two log-normal distributions. Our project will investigate this finding and provide a foundation for new research relevant to language production models. This will be achieved by determining the semantic, lexical, psycholinguistic ....Investigation of the component distributions of pause duration in spontaneous speech: Constraints for models of language production. We have discovered that the distribution of pause durations in spontaneous speech of individual speakers can be decomposed into at least two log-normal distributions. Our project will investigate this finding and provide a foundation for new research relevant to language production models. This will be achieved by determining the semantic, lexical, psycholinguistic, physiological, and acoustic concomitants of each component distribution and by investigating the impact of selected variables on the shape and location of each. The project has important implications for models of language production and applied problems involving automatic speech recognition, forensic speaker identification, and human communication disorders.Read moreRead less
Australian cultural and creative activity: A population and hotspot analysis. This project aims to grasp the contemporary dynamics of cultural and creative activity in Australia. It represents a major innovation, bringing together population-level and comparative studies of local cultural and creative activity. The comprehensive project will advance the integration of quantitative and qualitative research strategies, painting a complete national picture, while also exploring the factors that are ....Australian cultural and creative activity: A population and hotspot analysis. This project aims to grasp the contemporary dynamics of cultural and creative activity in Australia. It represents a major innovation, bringing together population-level and comparative studies of local cultural and creative activity. The comprehensive project will advance the integration of quantitative and qualitative research strategies, painting a complete national picture, while also exploring the factors that are producing local and regional creative hotspots. The project will deliver outputs such as reports and forums that are framed in close collaboration with partners in order to deliver outcomes such as better-targeted policy and program initiatives. This will provide national cultural and policy benefits from placing the creative sector in front of policy makers as a vital contributor to high growth, labour-intensive economic activity in the context of the Australian economy in transition.Read moreRead less
Single and dual process models of recognition memory: Reconciliation of behavioural, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging data. Advanced brain scanning technologies are increasingly used to study human memory. As well as being important for our basic understanding of memory, they also tell us how memory is affected by normal development, ageing, disease, and injury. Unfortunately, because these technologies are so new, a gap has opened up between our psychological understanding of memory and t ....Single and dual process models of recognition memory: Reconciliation of behavioural, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging data. Advanced brain scanning technologies are increasingly used to study human memory. As well as being important for our basic understanding of memory, they also tell us how memory is affected by normal development, ageing, disease, and injury. Unfortunately, because these technologies are so new, a gap has opened up between our psychological understanding of memory and the physiological events measured by the scanning technologies. This has created a problem for how we should interpret the results that are found. The present project aims to close this gap by applying new research methodologies and theoretical insights based on our previous research.Read moreRead less
New approaches measuring Australia’s creative workforce: Beyond the Census . This project aims to develop new approaches to measuring Australia’s creative workforce to address increasingly urgent questions about the value of this growing but poorly understood part of the economy and society. It expects to develop and demonstrate novel methods for capturing a range of creative activity currently at the margins of traditional measurement typified by the Census. Expected outcomes, which will benefi ....New approaches measuring Australia’s creative workforce: Beyond the Census . This project aims to develop new approaches to measuring Australia’s creative workforce to address increasingly urgent questions about the value of this growing but poorly understood part of the economy and society. It expects to develop and demonstrate novel methods for capturing a range of creative activity currently at the margins of traditional measurement typified by the Census. Expected outcomes, which will benefit industry partners, the cultural and creative industries, and international scholarship, include new understandings of the scope of creative qualifications, the contribution of creatives working outside the creative industries, the extent of second and other incomes, and the value of volunteering and online entrepreneurship.Read moreRead less