Research Project / Research Group Description:

Our sense of time and of the temporal relationship between events helps us anticipate the future and respond faster to our environment. This ability is most important for music or language that, by their own nature, are made of auditory sequences unfolding in time. Temporal expectations can derive from the intrinsic characteristics of the stimuli such as their regular rhythm or from the arbitrary association of a cue with a temporal interval. Both these different types of temporal expectancies are present in language. On the one hand, regular rhythmic information is embedded in speech by the syllable rate and by the weak-strong syllable pattern characterising prosody. On the other hand, in morphosyntactic dependencies, certain arbitrary elements such as the presence of “is” in English predicts the suffix “–ing” after the verb appearance (e.g. is play-ing). There is a tight relationship between the two types of cues and indeed prosodic cues boost learning of syntactic dependencies.

The present project aims at unravelling by which mechanisms rhythmic cues present in language capture exogenous attention but also help to guide endogenous attention to the relevant elements that contain predictive information for upcoming dependencies. The project is to study the earliest more automatic effects, captured by rhythmic cues, and how these rhythmic cues guide endogenous attention. The project is organised in two parts. The first part will observe the EEG modulations produced by manipulations of saliency and rhythm to tackle how prosody affects attention teasing apart whether rhythm or simply saliency is the key factor that correctly drives endogenous attention to focus in the relevant cues for learning. On the other hand, the timing system engaged by a rhythm appears to be mediated by striatothalamo-cortical loops, and it is partially involved in making subsequent predictions. Thus, the second part of the project will focus on the role of the striato-cortical connectivity with the motor and the fronto-parietal attentional systems. The current project will improve our understanding of language learning and the important role of the different attentional systems to shape this process. It will also shed light on the still barely known role of striato-cortical connectivity on language learning.

Job position description:

A very motivated candidate is searched to integrate in a dynamic and interdisciplinary team that is part of the Biomedical Institute of Bellvitge (IDIBELL) and the University of Barcelona. He/she will work in an interactive and stimulating Unit composed of 5 groups working in different topics and different methods of Cognitive Neuroscience research (Language, Memory, Reward, Brain Plasticity, Brain connectivity). The suitable candidate should have a degree in Psychology but Engineering, Biology,  Physics or other affine disciplines are also welcome if they have interest in Cognitive Neuroscience. She/he should be interested in learning a variety of neuroimaging techniques, in particular functional and structural MRI (diffusion MRI with tractography), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation along with EEG in healthy individuals in order to study the brain mechanisms and the underlying brain circuits related to attention orienting and language learning. The group has a network of national and international collaborations with leading experts in the field that will allow the young researcher to visit other labs and complement his/her training. He/she will be in charge with the design and preparation of the material for the experiments, will run the experiments and analyze the data with the support of the technician and other members of the group. He/she is expected to show initiative in her work and to be updated in the literature on the topic and he/she will write the drafts of the manuscripts derived from the research developed. He/she will be encouraged to have a critic mind and to present his/her data in seminars and conferences. The lab will provide with the necessary equipment, support and funding to develop the research with at a highly competitive level.

http://brainvitge.org/groups/language-learning/