Current research interests:

I use a multi-modal imaging approach to problems in the neuroscience of language and cognition.

Reading:

How are the complex computations underlying reading behaviour implemented efficiently and flexibly in our brains? I address this question using EEG, MEG and fMRI to study effects of psycholinguistic variables/tasks on the human brain response. I focus on the relationship between neuroimaging methods and behavioural measures (such as button presses and eye movements) in the context of computational models of reading.

Embodied Cognition:

How much do high-level cognitive processes still depend on processes at a lower level? "Embodied cognition" theory assumes that cognition makes use of basic perceptual and motor processes. I test preditions of this theory using EEG, MEG and fMRI, focussing on word meaning and arithmetic processing. Are motor areas activated when we read an action-related word? Or when we multiply two numbers?

Methods:

I evaluate and develop EEG/MEG source estimation procedures for connectivity and pattern analysis as well as multi-modal imaging, and apply novel approaches to EEG/MEG analysis to study cognitive variables and tasks, such as multiple linear regression or linear mixed-effects modelling.

Phd Projects

I would be happy to talk to prospective PhD students who are interested in EEG/MEG/fMRI and eye-tracking research on reading, or methods research in multi-modal imaging.