Group leader
Professor Jason Mattingley
Research overview
The Mattingley lab investigates how the human brain selects, predicts, and decides, enabling efficient perception, cognition, and action in complex environments. The research focuses on the dynamic interaction between selective attention, predictive processing, and decision-making, and how these systems support behaviour in both health and disease.
One of the lab's central aims is to understand how the brain prioritises information. This includes studying how attention is directed toward relevant sensory inputs in the external environment, as well as toward internally generated thoughts.
The lab also examines how the brain uses predictive mechanisms to anticipate future events, rapidly adapting when expectations are confirmed or violated.
Research focus
A key focus is how the brain makes decisions under uncertainty, integrating incomplete or ambiguous information to guide behaviour. Uncovering the neural basis of these processes enables the understanding of how perception and cognition are optimised in everyday life.
The research extends to understanding how these systems are disrupted in neurological and neuropsychological conditions, including stroke, dementia, and attention deficit disorders. Using a combination of behavioural testing, neuroimaging and non-invasive brain stimulation, the lab links brain activity to cognitive function.
The group explores how cognitive training interventions can enhance attention and perception across the lifespan, contributing to improved outcomes in education, ageing, and clinical rehabilitation.
Latest news
- University of Queensland researchers have received two $3 million grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to accelerate knowledge and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, and to improve gynaecological cancer treatment.
- Professor Jason Mattingley and Dr Will Harrison set out to understand how our brains are able to keep track of visual information across the thousands of eye movements we make every day.
- Researchers at UQ's Queensland Brain Institute have confirmed that brainwaves can affect visual perception, particularly when it comes to distinguishing between objects.