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
- How the human brain adapts to external stimulation – an important mechanism for species survival – has been made clearer at the Queensland Brain Institute.
- If you’ve ever wondered whether changing your mind is the best decision, then you should be reassured that your chances of success are better if you do.
- 2 September 2020Neuroscience has taken a big step forward after a brain-monitoring device was implanted in a pig. But what does that actually mean and how could it help humanity?