How, What and Who in Human Communication: Movement of Face and Voice. The aim of this project is to identify the essential characteristics of tone, affect, and identity from face and voice using a combination of signal processing, biological, and behavioural techniques in order to develop a comprehensive model of auditory-visual speech processing and communication. This research will significantly improve understanding of the basis of auditory-visual perception and production in tonal languages ....How, What and Who in Human Communication: Movement of Face and Voice. The aim of this project is to identify the essential characteristics of tone, affect, and identity from face and voice using a combination of signal processing, biological, and behavioural techniques in order to develop a comprehensive model of auditory-visual speech processing and communication. This research will significantly improve understanding of the basis of auditory-visual perception and production in tonal languages and in affective communication, facilitate links between neurophysiological processes and auditory-visual speech processing; and contribute to applications in automatic person recognition, automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech systems, and talking head aids for the hearing impaired.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354596
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$20,000.00
Summary
Perception and Action in Auditory Scenes (PAAS): Neural, Behavioural, Computational and Mechanical Systems. Auditory scenes are temporal and ephemeral yet pervasively influence human life. How humans negotiate such scenes has not been solved, a fact highlighted by attempts to build machines to respond to speech, warnings etc., in real-world situations with room reverberation, different talkers, and background noise. No one discipline can solve such problems. In this network outstanding researche ....Perception and Action in Auditory Scenes (PAAS): Neural, Behavioural, Computational and Mechanical Systems. Auditory scenes are temporal and ephemeral yet pervasively influence human life. How humans negotiate such scenes has not been solved, a fact highlighted by attempts to build machines to respond to speech, warnings etc., in real-world situations with room reverberation, different talkers, and background noise. No one discipline can solve such problems. In this network outstanding researchers from physical, medical, human, and social sciences with interests in speech, music and audition will provide insights into how humans and machines localize, recognize, interpret and produce auditory events, and advance frontier technologies, e.g., automatic speech recognition, hearing prostheses, auditory monitoring/warning systems.Read moreRead less
Filters reveal what flicker conceals: temporal processing in the human visual system. I have recently discovered a new form of camouflage using 10Hz luminance flicker. This project will quantify this effect and examine the extent to which it generalises across colour and spatial dimensions and to video sequences depicting natural scenes. This information is expected to provide foundational information to technologies relating to national security that rely on visual concealment. This research wi ....Filters reveal what flicker conceals: temporal processing in the human visual system. I have recently discovered a new form of camouflage using 10Hz luminance flicker. This project will quantify this effect and examine the extent to which it generalises across colour and spatial dimensions and to video sequences depicting natural scenes. This information is expected to provide foundational information to technologies relating to national security that rely on visual concealment. This research will examine the extent to which filtering out these camouflaging frequencies enhances our sensitivity to low temporal frequency information. This decamouflaging aspect of my research is expected to improve the clarity of digital video-based technologies including ultrasound, educational, info-tainment and defence applicationsRead moreRead less
Reading facial expressions from real and virtual humans. This project aims to advance understanding of human emotional communication and improve human rapport with the virtual humans and avatars that are rapidly infiltrating our social world. Using two unique stimulus sets - naturalistic human expressions and highly realistic virtual faces - together with powerful genetic, experimental, and individual differences designs, the project expects to answer previously intractable questions in emotion ....Reading facial expressions from real and virtual humans. This project aims to advance understanding of human emotional communication and improve human rapport with the virtual humans and avatars that are rapidly infiltrating our social world. Using two unique stimulus sets - naturalistic human expressions and highly realistic virtual faces - together with powerful genetic, experimental, and individual differences designs, the project expects to answer previously intractable questions in emotion science, as well as deliver tangible outcomes, such as new psychological tests to better understand human social connection. This should provide significant benefits, by improving emotion communication and offering a new perspective on how artificial intelligence can best serve human social needs.
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A Scalable Theory of Behavior Composition for Practical Engineering Models of Human Performance. Minimizing human error and maximizing human performance is a major design goal in safety critical systems. The development of methods for affordable human performance modeling has widespread applicability for evaluating user-system interfaces. The compositional method explored here has been shown to make accurate predictions reduce model development time by an order of magnitude. Large safety critica ....A Scalable Theory of Behavior Composition for Practical Engineering Models of Human Performance. Minimizing human error and maximizing human performance is a major design goal in safety critical systems. The development of methods for affordable human performance modeling has widespread applicability for evaluating user-system interfaces. The compositional method explored here has been shown to make accurate predictions reduce model development time by an order of magnitude. Large safety critical applications, such as military or air traffic control systems, would benefit greatly. The proposed work tests whether the compositional methods will scale to more complex domains. The work will be coordinated with Australian industry, academia, and government research efforts.Read moreRead less
Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. This project aims to address diagnostic error in advanced technology systems, by providing a mechanism to assess and improve individual diagnosticians’ performance. Organisations that rely on their employees’ diagnostic skills rarely assess them once the operators become qualified, so there is no basis for interventions that might prevent diagnostic erro ....Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. Predicting the diagnostic performance of individuals and organisations. This project aims to address diagnostic error in advanced technology systems, by providing a mechanism to assess and improve individual diagnosticians’ performance. Organisations that rely on their employees’ diagnostic skills rarely assess them once the operators become qualified, so there is no basis for interventions that might prevent diagnostic errors affecting thousands. This research tests a new method of assessing diagnostic skills based on how skilled operators respond to cues. This project will test how employees’ diagnostic skills change and whether this change corresponds to measures of organisational performance. This research is expected to provide organisations with a tool to pre-empt diagnostic errors that could minimise costs to the economy.Read moreRead less
Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment And Facilities - Grant ID: LE0210995
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$100,000.00
Summary
The Creation of an Eye Movement Recording Facility in Queensland. There are countless uses for technology that records visual behaviour; these include reading and cognitive psychology research, ergonomic design, web site usability testing, and evaluation of visual information (for example advertising or in ?virtual? environments). As such, recording eye movements has applications in pure and applied research, and in teaching demonstrations for students.
This application proposes to purchase ey ....The Creation of an Eye Movement Recording Facility in Queensland. There are countless uses for technology that records visual behaviour; these include reading and cognitive psychology research, ergonomic design, web site usability testing, and evaluation of visual information (for example advertising or in ?virtual? environments). As such, recording eye movements has applications in pure and applied research, and in teaching demonstrations for students.
This application proposes to purchase eye movement recording equipment to form a dedicated and truly collaborative facility to measure visual behaviour. The facility would be unique in Australia and would be invaluable to both further understand visual/cognitive processes and how individuals interact with their environments.Read moreRead less
Neural metrics for space time and numerosity. What we propose is ground-breaking research. It will increase Australia's international competitiveness is science, expand the knowledge base of brain function and psychology and provide valuable training for research scientists.
Identification and Examination of Visual Cues for Aircraft Glideslope Control. While aviation safety has improved dramatically over the last 50 years, accidents are still more common during landing than any other stage of flight. This project aims to improve our understanding of the way pilots use visual information to land an aircraft. Once our findings have been incorporated into existing training programs, this much-needed information should result in: (i) reduced pilot training time and cost ....Identification and Examination of Visual Cues for Aircraft Glideslope Control. While aviation safety has improved dramatically over the last 50 years, accidents are still more common during landing than any other stage of flight. This project aims to improve our understanding of the way pilots use visual information to land an aircraft. Once our findings have been incorporated into existing training programs, this much-needed information should result in: (i) reduced pilot training time and cost; (ii) increased trainee pilot safety and confidence; and (iii) reduced aircraft maintenance costs. A PhD student, who will be trained in visual perception and aviation, should contribute significantly to future aviation research in this country.Read moreRead less
Determinants and consequences of conscious visual awareness. Usually salient images can disappear from awareness without corresponding stimulus changes. This project is based on an innovative account linking such disappearances to a functional adaptation which facilitates vision in cluttered environments. Project completion will expand Australia's knowledge base, forge links between junior and senior Australian based investigators and provide excellent training opportunities. Publication of rese ....Determinants and consequences of conscious visual awareness. Usually salient images can disappear from awareness without corresponding stimulus changes. This project is based on an innovative account linking such disappearances to a functional adaptation which facilitates vision in cluttered environments. Project completion will expand Australia's knowledge base, forge links between junior and senior Australian based investigators and provide excellent training opportunities. Publication of research in top-ranking international journals will further promote Australian science abroad. Ultimately, this research will have implications for the design and implementation of artificial visual systems, which must overcome many of the same dilemmas faced by the human visual system in cluttered environments.Read moreRead less