You are in: Home » Research at the Unit » EEG/MEG Research on Language
EEG/MEG Research at the CBU
The EEG lab hosts a variety of research projects in the areas of perception, language and cognition. We employ a 65-channel Neuroscan EEG setup and all recordings are performed in an acoustically and electrically shielded chamber. The lab is equipped with a Polhemus 3DSPAce Fasttrack Digitisation System, as well as with E-Prime, Cogent, Stim and ERTS stimulation systems. For data processing, we have available the following software packages: Curry, BESA, ASA, Scan, Brain Vision Analyzer, MNE etc. We also develop our own analysis tools in Matlab environment.
In addition to measuring ERPs, we perform MEG (magnetoencephalography) at the newly established CBU MEG Laboratory. We also conduct fMRI experiments using the CBU Siemens Tim Trio 3T system and Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre in Cambridge.
Research
We use methods with high temporal resolution such as magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) to reveal the precise time-course of cognitive processes such as language, auditory/visual perception and decision making. In the case of language comprehension, for example, time course information is crucial, because language comprehension is a dynamic process that involves the integration of various types of information (phonological, syntactic, semantic etc) over a very short time interval. One of our primary goals is to integrate the precise temporal information provided by EEG and MEG with data obtained from functional Magnetic Resonance Tomography (fMRI).
Research areas
- Neurophysiological activity reflecting word-category-specific processes
- Specific word category deficits after lesions in the right hemisphere
- Psycholinguistic variables in visual word recognition
- The Mismatch Negativity (MMN) as a tool for investigating language in the brain
- Constraint-induced aphasia therapy
- EEG studies of auditory scene analysis and attention
People
- Friedemann Pulvermüller, Senior Scientist, Speech&Language Group
- Olaf Hauk, Senior Investigator Scientist, Speech&Language and Methods Group
- Yury Shtyrov, Senior Scientist (PLT), Speech&Language Group
- Bettina Mohr, Visiting Scientist
- Clare Cook, Research Assistant
- Max Garagnani, Career Development Fellow, Speech&Language Group
- Rick Chen, PhD student, Speech&Language Group
- Lisa Brindley, PhD student, Speech&Language Group and Memory Group
- Zubaida Shebani, PhD student, Speech&Language Group
Collaborators
The lab, led by Dr. Friedemann Pulvermüller, is historically a part of the Speech and Language Group, , but has tight relations with other subdivisions of the CBU. In addition, we closely collaborate with other groups in Cambridge and UK, as well as abroad:
- Cognitive Brain Research Unit at the University of Helsinki, Finland
- Centre for the Neural Basis of Hearing at the University of Cambridge, UK
- Department of Psychology at the University of Konstanz, Germany
- BioMag Laboratory at the Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland
- Institute of Neurophysiology at the University of Parma, Italy.
- Neurolab at the University of Ferrara, Italy.
Past events
Information on the 4th conference on Mismatch Negativity 2006 can be found here.
Software
We are equipped with several commercial software packages: CURRY, BESA, ASA, BrainVision Analyzer, Scan. We also use freeware packages MNE and SPM5 for the analysis of EEG/MEG data, and develop specialised software in Matlab.
