Project description
The listening brain: predictive neural dynamics in ageing
Many adults over 60 face increasing difficulty understanding spoken language, often leading to social isolation and reduced autonomy. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the PREDYNA-AGE project will investigate how the brain’s ‘predictive processing’ – a vital mechanism for fluent communication – changes with age. By combining advanced brain imaging (MEG) with AI-based language models, the project will track how neural networks reorganise across the adult lifespan during real-world listening tasks. Beyond mapping these dynamics, PREDYNA-AGE aims to promote open science and interdisciplinary collaboration through international partnerships. Additional project objectives include providing the mechanistic insights required for personalised interventions and precision medicine, supporting healthy ageing, and helping older adults maintain vital social connections.
Objective
Language is fundamental for maintaining social bonds and well-being in older adulthood. However, over one-third of adults over 60 face increasing difficulties in understanding spoken language, resulting in social isolation and reduced autonomy. Predictive processing is a key neural mechanism supporting fluent language comprehension, yet its neural basis across the lifespan is poorly understood. PREDYNA-AGE aims to elucidate age-related changes in the brain’s predictive processing networks, addressing the unresolved question: Do neural dynamics in aging reflect compensation, decline, or adaptive reorganization?
Filling gaps of prior research, PREDYNA-AGE maps predictive networks across the adult lifespan using ecological listening tasks with varying intelligibility, magnetoencephalography (MEG), graph theory, and deep computational language models. By including middle-aged participants and employing naturalistic auditory materials, the project systematically charts when and how predictive architectures reorganize to support real-world communication. Direct alignment between neural signals and hierarchical AI-based models will clarify the fidelity and flexibility of linguistic prediction from acoustic to semantic levels—identifying the brain mechanisms that sustain resilience and adaptability in neurocognitive aging.
Planned secondments at leading European labs in MEG connectivity and computational linguistics will ensure methodological rigor, interdisciplinary expertise, and knowledge transfer. Commitment to open and reproducible science will maximize societal value and accessibility. The outcomes of PREDYNA-AGE promise mechanistic insight crucial for developing personalized interventions while addressing EU priorities in healthy aging, digital health, and AI-driven precision medicine. Moreover, the fellowship will enhance my expertise in innovative brain-language research and accelerate my path toward scientific independence in the European Research Area.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities languages and literature linguistics
- medical and health sciences health sciences personalized medicine
- natural sciences mathematics pure mathematics discrete mathematics graph theory
- social sciences psychology psycholinguistics
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1211 Geneve
Switzerland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.