A University of Queensland researcher is conducting state-of-the-art experiments to unlock secrets of the living human brain as it processes information.
Dr Guy Wallis of UQ`s School of Human Movement Studies is using a range of brain imaging and advanced computer graphics techniques to study regions of the cortex in a project which promises unprecedented insight into the brain`s workings.
The work centres on how the brain entertains rival hypotheses or "opinions" when interpreting ambiguous information from the senses.
“If successful, the results will have broad impact in the field of human visual cognition and provide insight into the neural underpinnings of consciousness," he said.
“The work has the potential to inspire the design of artificial vision systems as well as more effective means of providing visual information in dynamic environments, such as when driving. Overall it will help researchers to more fully understand the essential linkages between perception, cognition and movement as they occur in a broad range of human skills.”
Dr Wallis has received $65,000 as one of seven recipients of the 2003 UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards for early career researchers, valued in total at $465,000.
The annual awards, now in their fifth year, recognise outstanding performance and leadership potential, and this year form part of the second annual UQ Research Week from September 22–26.
Dr Wallis`s project incorporates studies of the brain as it switches interpretations whilst viewing perceptually ambiguous stimuli, typified by the `Nekar Cube` or `Face-Vase` illusion.
By focusing on stimuli which do not change at a physical level, but which do change on a conscious level, Dr Wallis hopes to identify changes in cortical activity which are correlated with alterations in the viewer`s conscious state.
Dr Wallis said that the work will also help isolate which of the many competing hypotheses on visual rivalry are correct.
Fundamental to Dr Wallis`s work are two large pieces of research infrastructure. Firstly, new brain stimulation and recording equipment now available in the UQ School of Human Movement Studies` Perception and Motor Systems laboratory.
The Frameless Stereotactic Guidance system, as it is known, was funded by the University and a Wellcome Trust grant of $435,000 to the faculties of Health Sciences and Biological and Chemical Sciences.
The new system is the only one in Australia and one of the few in the world to be used for such research. It allows the seamless integration of three brain imaging tools to assess brain activity and connectivity.
The second item of infrastructure is a state-of-the-art graphics supercomputer for image generation and stimulus presentation worth over $0.4M. This machine was purchased through the ARC RIEF Programme with considerable support from the University. This equipment is capable of presenting high-fidelity images under precisely controlled conditions.
“Ultimately, improving our understanding of how the human visual system solves the analysis of complex, natural sciences has many important social and economic implications,” Dr Wallis said.
“What humans see is due as much to the machinery used to process the incoming images as to the object being observed.
“It is particularly instructive to study techniques employed by the visual systems in resolving visual ambiguity as this represents a fundamental problem for artificial vision systems too.
“Any system designed to perform intelligent image understanding has to face the prospect of making decisions based on incomplete or ambiguous data.
“Not only can understanding vision and cognition help in the design of artificially intelligent systems but it can also potentially improve the training of a host of perceptual-motor skills; the ergonomic design of safer devices; and the therapeutic approaches for mental disorders, such as bipolar disorder (manic depression) and schizophrenia, as well as disorders of movement.”
Dr Wallis is associated with projects which have attracted more than $2.4 million in research grants in the past three years.
A DPhil graduate of Oxford University, he subsequently received a research fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany. Dr Wallis was attracted to UQ in 1998 to work as a research fellow on a project on visual control of steering, funded by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission.
Since this initial appointment, Dr Wallis has been successful in securing a UQ postdoctoral research fellowship and most recently, an Australian Research Council Queen Elizabeth II senior research fellowship.
Media: Videos and still photos are available at www.uq.edu.au/news/researchweek or for more information, contact Dr Guy Wallis (telephone 07 3365 6108 or email:gwallis@hms.uq.edu.au) or Jan King at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 1120 or mobile 0413 601 248).
