Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120101289
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
How we know who is talking: talker-distinctiveness in speech timing. The goal of the project is to understand the cognitive mechanisms that underpin the human ability to recognise both words and talkers in speech. The project will produce a pan-Australian model of speech timing and employ it to predict how easily talkers can recognise each other.
The basics of reading: How are letter-strings identified as words? In order for people to read effectively, the mental representation of each letter-string must be found in long-term memory. The aim of this project is to more fully understand the nature of proficient visual word recognition with a particular focus on the way in which the form of the word is mentally stored and retrieved during the act of reading. A range of issues will be examined from letter position coding through to how words ....The basics of reading: How are letter-strings identified as words? In order for people to read effectively, the mental representation of each letter-string must be found in long-term memory. The aim of this project is to more fully understand the nature of proficient visual word recognition with a particular focus on the way in which the form of the word is mentally stored and retrieved during the act of reading. A range of issues will be examined from letter position coding through to how words with a complex internal structure are processed, all framed within a unified model of word recognition. An understanding of the mechanisms underlying proficient adult reading is significant and beneficial in that it is expected to provide a framework for guiding both reading acquisition and reading improvement programs.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120102378
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
What shapes the structure of language? An experimental and computational investigation. How do people learn language so easily, and how is the structure of language shaped by our learning biases? This project attempts to answer these questions through an innovative combination of experimental and computational tools, with implications for technological development as well as educational interventions for both children and adults.
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100868
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$336,284.00
Summary
Neural mechanisms of inhibitory control of human speech in stutterers and non-stutterers. Stopping oneself from speaking is a crucial communication function. In people who stutter, a disorder of this function causes their debilitating speech problem. This project will use cutting edge neuroimaging techniques to reveal how the brain stops speech in stutterers and in fluent speakers.
You came TO DIE?! Perceptual adaptation to regional accents as a new lens on the puzzle of spoken word recognition. Investigating Australian, New Zealand and UK listeners adaptation to each others accents will reveal how we achieve stable word recognition via flexible adjustment to pronunciation differences. Results will inform word recognition theory and illuminate why unfamiliar accents are difficult for language learners and automatic speech recognisers.
Cracking the orthographic code: investigating early perceptual processes in reading. Current understanding of how human readers decode a string of letters into known words is inadequate. This project advances understanding of this early reading process, by combining computational modelling, behavioural and brain imaging approaches.
The flipside of noise: Does it benefit listening and learning? People with low attention capacity can experience improvements in cognitive function (eg memory) in the presence of external white noise. This project aims to determine the brain mechanisms for this improvement and how it affects oral language comprehension and verbal learning. In doing so, the research would change the prevailing view that noise is always detrimental to mental processes, and provide a theoretical framework for predi ....The flipside of noise: Does it benefit listening and learning? People with low attention capacity can experience improvements in cognitive function (eg memory) in the presence of external white noise. This project aims to determine the brain mechanisms for this improvement and how it affects oral language comprehension and verbal learning. In doing so, the research would change the prevailing view that noise is always detrimental to mental processes, and provide a theoretical framework for predicting how an individual’s cognitive capacity is affected by the presence of noise. It may support the development of methods to improve educational participation and outcomes for children, particularly those with lower attention, and for older adults.Read moreRead less
How does electrical stimulation affect brain networks? This project aims to generate fundamental knowledge about links between neural mechanisms, electrical brain stimulation and brain function. The project aims to improve knowledge about transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and its effects on complex human brain networks. Such knowledge is necessary to enhance the effectiveness of current stimulation protocols. Using the innovative and interdisciplinary approach, this project will pr ....How does electrical stimulation affect brain networks? This project aims to generate fundamental knowledge about links between neural mechanisms, electrical brain stimulation and brain function. The project aims to improve knowledge about transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and its effects on complex human brain networks. Such knowledge is necessary to enhance the effectiveness of current stimulation protocols. Using the innovative and interdisciplinary approach, this project will provide significant benefits such as crucial mechanistic information about how tDCS modulates healthy brain function which has broad implications for research and clinical use of this technique.Read moreRead less
Beyond reading jumbled words: Bridging perception and language in the Noisy Channel model. Classic computational models of visual word recognition do not consider the noise present in early perceptual processes, and they cannot cope with “jubmled wrods”- words with distorted letter order, unlike skilled readers. Previous work has developed the Noisy Channel model which can recognise such words, modelled as an optimal Bayesian inference process operating on a noisy visual input where there is unc ....Beyond reading jumbled words: Bridging perception and language in the Noisy Channel model. Classic computational models of visual word recognition do not consider the noise present in early perceptual processes, and they cannot cope with “jubmled wrods”- words with distorted letter order, unlike skilled readers. Previous work has developed the Noisy Channel model which can recognise such words, modelled as an optimal Bayesian inference process operating on a noisy visual input where there is uncertainty in the identity and order of letters. In this project, using computational modeling and behavioural experiments, the scope of the Noisy Channel model will be extended to address the role of phonology in the early stages of reading. The outcome will be a better understanding of the link between visual perception and language.Read moreRead less