M-BIC Language Lab
The Language Lab aims at understanding cognitive and brain mechanisms underlying language and language development. Our lab is part of the Maastricht Brain Imaging Center (M-BIC) founded by the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN/UM) at Maastricht University. We investigate neural transformations of auditory (speech perception) and visual (reading, object perception) signals into meaningful messages and of thoughts and images into speech plans (speech production). Furthermore we investigate the formation and fine-tuning of these transformations during typical and anomalous language development (dyslexia).
Our research employs tailored psychophysical paradigms for adults and children with and without language disorders, combined with measurements of brain activity at high temporal (EEG), spatial (fMRI at 3T, 7T) and spatio-temporal (ECoG) resolution. We zoom into underlying brain mechanisms by analyzing our data using advanced analysis techniques including multivariate EEG/fMRI pattern analysis, functional connectivity and fMRI ‘encoding’ analysis. Moreover we assess individual brain-behavior relations by linking these brain measures to different types of behavioral measures including on-line task performance, real-time MRI of vocal tract gestures and cognitive and reading skills.
Researchers
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Milene Bonte
Head, ProfessorSpeech perception, Language development, Reading, Dyslexia
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Yuewei Cao
Ph.D. StudentDevelopmental Dyslexia, Language Learning, Cross-Cultural Studies
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Francesco Gentile
Assistant Professormultisensory integration, speech production, attentional modulation in sematic processing
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Bernadette Jansma
ProfessorLanguage production, Relation of perception and language, Information selection
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Manli Zhang
Ph.D. StudentReading development, Dyslexia, Crossmodal integration, Bilingualism
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Students
Master students
Miha Churusinova
Nadeshda Durdova
Amy Habich
Hayley Jones
Loek Knoors
Liwen Meng
Laura Moreno Bernal
Naz Onat
Isabel Schimdt
Muhammet Sercik
Varsha Shashi Kumar
Nadine Sajo
Caleb Thompson
Weronika Tyrala
Sai Yadnik
Student assistants
Tatyana Branco
Miriam Langerbeck
Giovanni Menon
Lise Vrolix
Alumni
Mario E Archila-Melendez
Postdoctoral researcher, Technical University München, Dept. Neuroradiology, Germany
Mart Bles
Consultant energietransitie, Enexis Groep, ‘s Hertogenbosch, NL
João Correia
Researcher at University of Algarve, Portugal
Alexandra Emmendorfer
Postdoc MPI and RU Nijmegen
Giada Guerra
Specialist Assistant Psychologist/Clinical Research Assistant, Open Door Young People’s Service, London, UK
Boukje Habets
Postdoctoral researcher, University of Bielefeld, Germany
Anke Hammer
Psychologist and Researcher, Department of Psychiatry, University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
Kasia Chyl
Postdoctoral researcher, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland
Kiki van der Heijden
Postdoctoral researcher, Donders Insitute for Brain Cognition and Behavior, Nijmegen, NL
Roef Janssen
Content developer Kind en Jeugd / Triage psycholoog, Embloom, NL
Tieme Janssen
Assistant professor, VU University Amsterdam, NL
Sara Mazzini
PHD student MPI and RU Nijmegen
Inge Timmers
Associate Professor Tilburg University
Maaike Vandermosten
Professor at KU Leuven, Belgium
Gonny Willems
Managing Director – Studio Europa, Maastricht, NL
Gojko Žarić
Data analyst, Booking.com, Amsterdam, NL
In memoriam: Leo Blomert (1952 – 2012)
Leo Blomert has been the founding chair of the Cognitive Neuroscience Department at the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience… read more