Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0882219
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$100,000.00
Summary
Infrastructure for an integrated cognitive neurophysiological research facility: Mapping the neurobiology of memory and language. The Integrated Cognitive Neurophysiological Research Facility will enhance Australia's national research capacity in cognitive neuroscience by enabling large numbers of researchers and graduate students to investigate the neuroscience of memory and language in a collaborative, multi-disciplinary research environment. The facility will deliver national benefits by unco ....Infrastructure for an integrated cognitive neurophysiological research facility: Mapping the neurobiology of memory and language. The Integrated Cognitive Neurophysiological Research Facility will enhance Australia's national research capacity in cognitive neuroscience by enabling large numbers of researchers and graduate students to investigate the neuroscience of memory and language in a collaborative, multi-disciplinary research environment. The facility will deliver national benefits by uncovering the ways in which areas of the brain are used to remember events and process language. This information can then be used to understand how damage to the brain (such as in stroke or disease) can disrupt memory and language and subsequently lead to more effective neurorehabilitation techniques.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0560916
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$323,400.00
Summary
Magnetic resonance in humans: Equipment for neuroscience studies. The structure, function and biochemistry of the human brain can now be assessed non-invasively using magnetic resonance (MR) techniques. A 3 Tesla MR facility with half its time available for research has recently been established at POWMRI. This application seeks state-of-the-art equipment so that the facility can optimise its research potential and enhance its scientific output. Research is directed to understanding how the nor ....Magnetic resonance in humans: Equipment for neuroscience studies. The structure, function and biochemistry of the human brain can now be assessed non-invasively using magnetic resonance (MR) techniques. A 3 Tesla MR facility with half its time available for research has recently been established at POWMRI. This application seeks state-of-the-art equipment so that the facility can optimise its research potential and enhance its scientific output. Research is directed to understanding how the normal brain functions, how deficits in function develop, and how the function and structure of the brain change with age. This grant will help establish an internationally-competitive, broadly-based facility which is dedicated to understanding the human brain.Read moreRead less
Ageing and self-regulation. Australia is faced with an ageing population, and thus an increasingly important national goal is ageing well and ageing productively. Our preliminary research suggests that self-regulation may be a significant problem for older Australians. The proposed research will provide a clearer picture of when and why older adults have difficulties regulating their behaviour, and which older adults are particularly susceptible to lapses in self-control. If older adults do hav ....Ageing and self-regulation. Australia is faced with an ageing population, and thus an increasingly important national goal is ageing well and ageing productively. Our preliminary research suggests that self-regulation may be a significant problem for older Australians. The proposed research will provide a clearer picture of when and why older adults have difficulties regulating their behaviour, and which older adults are particularly susceptible to lapses in self-control. If older adults do have difficulties self-regulating, and if these self-regulation failures incur health, financial and social costs, by gaining a clearer understanding of this problem, the proposed research will take an important step in improving the lives of older Australians. Read moreRead less
Everyday cognition in older adulthood: Mechanisms contributing to the age-prospective memory paradox. Australia is faced with an ageing population, and thus an increasingly important goal is ageing well and ageing productively. The proposed research will clarify why older adults perform extremely well on prospective memory (PM) tasks based in everyday environments, but very poorly on PM tasks that take place in the controlled situation of the laboratory. Advancing our understanding of why this ....Everyday cognition in older adulthood: Mechanisms contributing to the age-prospective memory paradox. Australia is faced with an ageing population, and thus an increasingly important goal is ageing well and ageing productively. The proposed research will clarify why older adults perform extremely well on prospective memory (PM) tasks based in everyday environments, but very poorly on PM tasks that take place in the controlled situation of the laboratory. Advancing our understanding of why this 'paradoxical' pattern of age effects occurs will help clarify how other aspects of everyday cognition in older adulthood may be optimised, and consequently take an important step in improving the lives of older adults. The results will also inform development of rehabilitation strategies for clinical groups who present with PM difficulties. Read moreRead less
Ageing, Inhibition, and Social Control - steps towards improving the lives of older adults. Australia is faced with an ageing population, and thus an increasingly important national goal is ageing well and ageing productively. The proposed research will extend our preliminary findings on ageing and social inappropriateness to provide a clearer picture of when and why this occurs, and among whom. The proposed research will also examine the mental and physical health consequences of social inappro ....Ageing, Inhibition, and Social Control - steps towards improving the lives of older adults. Australia is faced with an ageing population, and thus an increasingly important national goal is ageing well and ageing productively. The proposed research will extend our preliminary findings on ageing and social inappropriateness to provide a clearer picture of when and why this occurs, and among whom. The proposed research will also examine the mental and physical health consequences of social inappropriateness longitudinally. If cognitive losses do lead to social losses, with attendant negative health consequences, by gaining a clearer understanding of this problem, the proposed research will take an important step in improving the lives of older adults.Read moreRead less
The role of prediction error in extinction. The project will provide information about the mechanisms by which organisms adjust their behaviour to bring it into line with new relations between events. It will also provide information regarding the mechanisms underlying cue exposure used in the treatment of anxiety disorders. It will result in publications in peer reviewed journals, and in presentations at University colloquia and conferences in Australia and overseas that will add to the reputat ....The role of prediction error in extinction. The project will provide information about the mechanisms by which organisms adjust their behaviour to bring it into line with new relations between events. It will also provide information regarding the mechanisms underlying cue exposure used in the treatment of anxiety disorders. It will result in publications in peer reviewed journals, and in presentations at University colloquia and conferences in Australia and overseas that will add to the reputation for science and its applications to the clinic. It will form part of the work in my laboratory where Honours and Doctoral students receive training in behavioural neuroscience.Read moreRead less
The neural substrates of attentional learning in Pavlovian conditioning. Current psychological theories use error correction mechanisms to explain the development of normal fear, exaggerated fear and the failure to develop fear. One class of theory proposes that these mechanisms produce such outcomes by determining the allocation of attention. Mechanisms for attentional learning have yet to be incorporated into neurobiological treatments of learned fear. This project will identify the neurobiolo ....The neural substrates of attentional learning in Pavlovian conditioning. Current psychological theories use error correction mechanisms to explain the development of normal fear, exaggerated fear and the failure to develop fear. One class of theory proposes that these mechanisms produce such outcomes by determining the allocation of attention. Mechanisms for attentional learning have yet to be incorporated into neurobiological treatments of learned fear. This project will identify the neurobiological substrate of attentional learning and thus further our understanding of the neurobiology of fear. This understanding is necessary for the development of more effective treatments of disorders of fear (e.g., Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).Read moreRead less
Reconciling perceptual and cognitive accounts of dyslexia: The neural rate deficit hypothesis. The proposed research will form part of a co-ordinated program to understand the causes of dyslexia, a disorder that affects a large number of children and often persists into adulthood. It complements parallel efforts to elucidate the genetic basis of dyslexia, the heterogeneity and subtypes of dyslexia, and the developmental precursors to the disorder. This research will inform early intervention and ....Reconciling perceptual and cognitive accounts of dyslexia: The neural rate deficit hypothesis. The proposed research will form part of a co-ordinated program to understand the causes of dyslexia, a disorder that affects a large number of children and often persists into adulthood. It complements parallel efforts to elucidate the genetic basis of dyslexia, the heterogeneity and subtypes of dyslexia, and the developmental precursors to the disorder. This research will inform early intervention and remediation efforts and will also assist in the understanding of the normal process of reading acquisition in children.Read moreRead less
Latent inhibition: Behavioural characteristics and neural substrates. Latent inhibition is an animal model of schizophrenia. It refers to the impairment in learned performance when a pre-exposed stimulus signals something of importance. The initial learning interferes with the subsequent learning. This effect fails to occur in schizophrenics but occurs after their treatment with antipsychotic medication. The project will provide the basis for a comprehensive theory of the processes involved in t ....Latent inhibition: Behavioural characteristics and neural substrates. Latent inhibition is an animal model of schizophrenia. It refers to the impairment in learned performance when a pre-exposed stimulus signals something of importance. The initial learning interferes with the subsequent learning. This effect fails to occur in schizophrenics but occurs after their treatment with antipsychotic medication. The project will provide the basis for a comprehensive theory of the processes involved in the effect and their neural substrates. Such a theory will clarify the processes and neural substrates disrupted in schizophrenia. Students will receive training in behavioural neuroscience, and publication of results in journals and presentations at conferences will add to the reputation of Australian science.Read moreRead less
Mobile computation in human perception and feature binding. Perception is so complex that still we cannot give computers more than a fraction of the human ability to perceive things. Experiments with humans can unravel the computations that underlie human abilities. Here we focus on distinguishing between perceptual mechanisms that analyze information from only patches of the visual world and those that combine information from across the visual field as an object moves across it. Results should ....Mobile computation in human perception and feature binding. Perception is so complex that still we cannot give computers more than a fraction of the human ability to perceive things. Experiments with humans can unravel the computations that underlie human abilities. Here we focus on distinguishing between perceptual mechanisms that analyze information from only patches of the visual world and those that combine information from across the visual field as an object moves across it. Results should also help to understand the general issue of how the brain combines information from different groups of neurons. Australian understanding of brains should be advanced, benefiting neuroscience, medicine, and eventually computer science.Read moreRead less