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Language and Brain Rhythms

Project description

Brain rhythms in our language and alterations during linguistic problems

One of the basic components of our language is a rhythm of speech signals shaped only by our native language, a poorly understood process. The EU-funded LaBRhythms project will study the role of neural oscillations in processing specific speech rhythms in our mother tongue. It will use magnetoencephalography in high spatial resolution to “see” how the speech information is transmitted in different areas of the brain. The project will provide new information on brain mechanisms responsible for processing speech, especially cross-linguistic problems, and will generate new tools for laminar MEG analysis enabling a real research breakthrough.

Objective

From womb to adulthood, our native language is known to shape our experience of speech. A major compound of the language to which an individual is exposed during his life is the temporal structure, or rhythm, of speech signals. Exposure to native language rhythms has been shown to strongly constrain the ability to understand and learn other languages. Yet, a comprehensive view of the processing of speech rhythms from a neural standpoint is still lacking. The LaBRhythms project will investigate the hypothesis that neural oscillations are instrumental in the processing of language-specific speech rhythms, and for the communication of speech information across brain areas. To test this, I will develop novel neuroimaging tools for analyses that will increase the spatial resolution of magnetoencephalography (MEG) to an unprecedented level, allowing for observation of neural oscillations at the laminar level in human data. The project will provide both strong theoretical and methodological advances. First, it will give new insights into the brain mechanisms of complex temporal information processing in speech. It aims in particular at reconciling the linguistic approaches in the study of speech rhythms, which emphasize the cross-linguistic variability in temporal information, with the prevailing neurophysiological framework of speech processing that for now only focused on the periodicities in the speech signal. Second, it will generate new tools for laminar MEG analysis. These tools will permit the investigation of theoretical questions on the communication between brain areas that could not be answered otherwise. For this project, I will benefit from the strong expertise of the Centre de Recherche en Neuroscience de Lyon (CRNL) in neuroimaging and neural oscillations research, where I will specifically receive training in technical and team-leadership skills, providing an ideal setting to perform cutting-edge research and grow as an independent researcher.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018

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Coordinator

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALE
Net EU contribution

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.

€ 184 707,84
Total cost

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.

€ 184 707,84
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